Jury selection begins in deadly subway chokehold trial
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Jury selection began Monday in the manslaughter trial of Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who put a man acting erratically in a New York City subway car into a fatal chokehold.
Penny pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Witnesses say the man, Jordan Neely, had been shouting and demanding money when Penny approached him on May 1, 2023.
That's when Penny moved to restrain him, pinned the man to the floor of an NYC train with the help of two other passengers, and placed him in a chokehold until his body went limp.
The medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide. Penny's lawyers argue that the Long Island native didn't intend to kill Neely but rather sought to hold him down long enough for police to arrive.
The case has fueled political narratives and perceptions about urban crime and captivated a city where the subway is indispensable.
The judge has said it could take two weeks to seat a jury that will be asked to reconcile when it is appropriate for a citizen to kill another citizen.
Neely was experiencing homelessness and was known to perform as a Michael Jackson impersonator. Penny's defense has argued Neely was "insanely threatening" to passengers aboard the F train in Manhattan and Penny "took action to protect the lives of others."
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office are expected to concede that Neely may have seemed scary to some subway riders but will argue Penny continued the chokehold long past the point where Neely stopped moving and posed any threat.
To convict, prosecutors must prove Penny's use of lethal force was unjustifiable and that Penny acted recklessly and consciously disregarded the substantial risk of putting Neely in the chokehold for so long. Prosecutors do not have to prove Penny intended to kill Neely, which defense attorneys have said he did not.
"We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny's actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict," Penny's lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, have said.
The case is expected to feature testimony of passengers who were aboard the subway at the time and video of the chokehold, which lasted six minutes. Prosecutors have said that about 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely is seen ceasing all purposeful movement.
"After that moment, Mr. Neely's movements are best described as 'twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'" prosecutors have said.
Jury selection for the trial will look different than others.
Applicants are first screened for their availability to serve on the six-week trial and then will return for a second time to complete the jury questionnaire.
"And right now, our job is to make sure that we have a fair and impartial jury that can give Danny a fair trial, that he deserves to," Penny's Defense Attorney Steven Raisur said.
When the first group of 86 prospective jurors were asked to raise their hands if they knew about the case, nearly everyone in the packed courtroom raised a hand to indicate yes.
"Not a surprise," Judge Maxwell Wiley said.
"Even if you have formed an opinion about it, that does not disqualify you from serving on this case," he said, adding that anyone who is picked for the jury must keep an open mind.
By the end of the day, some 45 people were asked to return for the next stage in the screening on Friday; the rest were excused.
The selection process is expected to continue Tuesday, and it will likely be days before prospective jurors are questioned about any beliefs, personal connections or life experiences that could affect their ability to serve fairly and impartially.
Neely's father, Andre Zachery, was among those in courtroom audience Monday. The family's lawyer, Donte Mills, said outside court that Zachery is feeling hurt and seeking justice for his son.
"The facts of the case is this: someone got on the train and was screaming, and someone choked that person to death. Those things will never balance out and there's no justification that can make those things balance out," Mills said.
"There's going to be ample evidence about a lot of that's going to come out. Most of it's going to come out, I think, on the prosecution's case. So it would be very much I think, you know, anybody watching this trial, a very good idea of what our client was presented with that day and also what is the other passengers on that train were presented with," Penny's Defense Attorney Thomas Kenniff said.
Penny's lawyers said Monday that they hadn't decided whether he will testify.
RELATED | New video evidence debated in court during Daniel Penny's pretrial hearing
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