Daniel Penny found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely's death
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely's subway chokehold death.
The jury deliberated for more than 24 hours across five days before reaching the verdict.
The courtroom broke out in a mix of cheers, clapping, and jeers as soon as the verdict was read.
Neely's father cursed in anger shortly after the verdict and was forcibly removed from the courtroom by a court officer. Others in the gallery shouted, and one woman broke down to tears.
Penny, walking out of the courtroom, flashed a brief smile before returning to his stoneface demeanor. His lawyers embraced one another while seated at counsel table.
Neely's father, Andre Zachary, filed a lawsuit against Penny last week. He stood alongside supporters on Monday morning and criticized the jury's verdict.
"I just want to say, I miss my son, my son didn't have to go through this, I didn't have to go through this either, it hurts, really really hurts, what are we going to do people? What's going to happen to us now?" Zachary said.
As he spoke, protesters chanted "Say his name - Jordan Neely" and "No justice, no peace." Police broke up the crowd of protesters as the press conference continued.
Zachary's attorney expressed optimism that Neely's family will still get justice through a civil lawsuit against Penny.
"I promised this family justice - we are still going to do that," said Donte Mills. "The district attorney did a good job, but the jury in this case let us down."
Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, whose son was killed by a NYPD officer who placed him in a chokehold - criticized Neely's death as a history repeating itself.
"No one deserves to be choked," she said. "You know, we're in that courtroom, and people are cheering for the verdict."
"It's two justice systems, and we have to stop this, and the only way that we can stop it is to stand together," she said. "We can't let this happen. If the police can't do it, the civilians can't do it either, and I just want you to stand with this family."
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thanked the jury and vowed to respect their verdict.
"The jury has now spoken. At the Manhattan D.A.'s Office we deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict," he said.
Bragg said that the length of the deliberation "underscored why this case was put in front of a jury of Mr. Penny's peers" and thanked his prosecutors for their work, noting that many of them received hate and threats.
"Unfortunately, over the duration of this trial, talented career prosecutors and their family members were besieged with hate and threats - on social media, by phone and over email. Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it," he said.
The law firm that represented Penny issued a statement Monday afternoon following his acquittal, saying "New Yorkers can take some comfort in knowing that we can continue to stand up for one another without sacrificing our rights or our freedoms."
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement he is grateful that Penny was acquitted:
"I was confident from day one Daniel Penny was a hero, not a villain, and I am extremely grateful that a Manhattan jury saw through all the political nonsense and determined Daniel Penny had no culpability in the death of Jordan Neely."
Last week, the jury spent more than 23 hours across four days deliberating whether Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, committed second degree manslaughter before repeatedly signaling that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Judge Maxwell Wiley ultimately granted prosecutors' request to dismiss the first count while Penny's defense attorneys unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial, arguing that continued deliberations could lead to a "coercive or a compromised verdict" by "elbowing" jurors to convict on the lesser charge.
Manslaughter would have required proving that Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave, while proving criminally negligent homicide requires the jury be convinced that Penny engaged in "blameworthy conduct" that he did not consider would lead to the risk of death.
Data shows the number of justified killings by civilians climbed 65% from 2010 to 2023.
By 2019, the number of justifiable homicides committed by civilians actually surpassed those done by law enforcement officers.
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