The Murder of Jordan Neely: An Update on the Trial
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Jordan Neely performing.
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(Editor’s note: We must continue to discuss the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man crying out for help, murdered on the train in New York City. Our own Stephen Wilson shows his expertise at being able to weigh the evidence and report in depth on this complicated—and increasingly controversial—topic.)
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The Jury of 12 are once again deliberating on the verdict over the case of Daniel Penny, the ex-marine charged (now only) with negligent homicide of a homeless person Jordan Neely. They are currently reexamining the main evidence such as cell-phone films, police recordings, the recorded police interrogation of Daniel Penny as well as medical reports. They have yet to announce a verdict which could take anything from one day to several weeks.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the father of Jordan Neely took out a lawsuit against Daniel Penny to sue him for assault, battery and negligence which led to his death. There are also unconfirmed rumours, hearsay, and speculation of a hung jury.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley, the judge handling the case, removed the charge of manslaughter. {See below for more information.}
The long trial of Daniel Penny has finally ended. Both the prosecution and defense made their cases before the jury leaving the jury to withdraw to come up with a verdict. Though a verdict is imminent, the question remains how imminent. It appears the jury is cautiously and carefully weighing up all the evidence.
Their verdict could come as early as Monday, December 9.
On the surface it might appear that this is a simple and straightforward case where all the available evidence is clear cut. The incident was filmed and witnessed by many passengers. However, the case has been rendered complicated by how people have interpreted those events by people questioning whether Jordan Neely represented a deadly threat or not and the exact reasons for the death of Jordan Neely. The case has polarised America along deep political and social lines, mainly those arising from 'cultural wars.' It could be said.
The controversy arises over what happened exactly on May 1st, 2023. Jordan Neely, a homeless gentleman and Michael Jackson impersonator who suffered from Schizophrenia and depression, boarded a Manhattan train in New York. Neely was very upset. He began screaming loudly that he was thirsty, hungry and wanted to go to jail. He stated he would either kill himself or someone. He took off his coat and threw it on the ground. Some of the passengers who witnessed this incident were frightened, but other passengers claimed they had witnessed such scenes before and ignored them. It was not new for them. In response to the commotion, an ex-marine and student of architecture the then-25-year-old Daniel Penny approached Neely from behind , grabbed him and threw him down holding him in chokehold for about six minutes. The ex-marine was assisted by three passengers. Despite being told three times by some passengers to release Neely, Penny ignored such requests. The result was that Jordan Neely died.
Penny was later charged with second-degree manslaughter as well as criminally negligent homicide. Both the prosecution and defense agree that Penny had no intention to murder Jordan Neely. Being accused of second-degree murder is much more serious as it suggests not only Penny actions were deemed beyond reason but that he was well aware of how lethal chokehold could be. He was originally facing a 15-year sentence. In the latter Penny was not so aware and acted more out of ignorance and incompetence. {That could mean simply a 4-year sentence.}
In the summing up of the prosecution, Dafna Yoran, the prosectutor, stated that "Daniel Penny, the defendant, could have easily restrained Jordan Neely without choking him to death." Yoran also added that " He used far too much force for far too long. He went way too far- he showed indifference towards Neely and didn't recognise his humanity."
Doctor Cynthia Harris, who performed an autopsy on Jordan Neely, stated that Neely was choked to death. She stated "It's my medical opinion that there is no alternative reasonable explanation for Mr Neely's death." She rejected alternative reasons as contributing to his death, such as the presence of toxic substances in his body including synthetic marijuana, that he had a sickle cell condition or schizophrenia. Claims that those factors could have contributed to Neely's death were rejected on the grounds that such conclusions were entering the realm of impossibility. The defence have been attempting to challenge the conclusions of the medical autopsy asking why the doctor failed to carry out a toxicality report. The defense have also emphasized how Neely threatened passengers with words such as 'I will kill,' and lunged at a woman with a child. The defense have pointed out that because there were no security guards or police available Penny felt he had no choice but to step in to protect passengers. The implication is that Penny was being made a scapegoat and that he was not the only person to blame but the police and doctors have a lot to answer for. They were also negligent and indifferent to passenger safety! The aim of the defense was to complicate, confound and confuse how people perceived Jordan Neely's death.
A question raised by this tragic incident is how should someone react in such a scenario? StreetSense asked a 45-year-old businessman Yevgeni Dzuri who has been practising Judo since his childhood and won several Judo competitions. He commented on the case by stating, ''Well first of all you have to understand it's not Daniel Penny's job to keep order in the subway or the streets. That's the job of professionals such as policemen and the security guards on the subway. Penny is not a professional. He also lacks expertise in the area of self-defence. If Penny was attacked I could understand his resort to self-defence. Then to hold him for six minutes in chokehold is far too long. If anyone did this in Russia just like America they would of course be charged with assault. If Jordan Neely attacked Penny or another passenger with a knife or physically I could understand Penny's intervention but that wasn't the case. Whether the attacker has a knife and attacks is an important point in considering the case of self-defense in Russia.
Dzuri continued, “What would I do in such a situation? If someone started screaming I would not approach him and to ask him to calm down or physically try to restrain him. That is pointless. It would not work. I would not approach this person. It would be just looking for trouble and create more problems."
Jordan Neely in character.
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Streetsense asked Dzuri just what in his estimation would be the best way of using self-defense. He stated that self defense can also have its limitations. He explained, “All it takes is an attacker to stab you with a knife once and you are dead. Judo of course teaches many ways of grabbing your opponent and bringing him to the ground. But if the attacker is heavier how do you pin him to the ground? That is why you might have to make him unconscious or faint after a few seconds. But you don't hold someone in chokehold for six whole minutes! That is very dangerous. But I think that boxing might be the best form of self defense because you can knock out your opponent with just one blow. But I would like to point out that the issue of how to defend yourself and other people from an attacker or potential attacker can be a gray area. Things are not always so black and white!"
In fact, In Moscow and New York passengers have experienced seeing passengers screaming and shouting abuse and threats to people and nothing terrible happened. They just walked away or went to another wagon of the train. Not all the words of a person should be taken too literally.
On Friday, December 6, the jury reported it was deadlocked on the charge of manslaughter, much to the disappointment of the family of Neely and others who have been following the case.
There is a new development in the case related to that announcement from the jury: Judge Wiley has dismissed the top charge in the case at the request of prosecutors, namely dropping the manslaughter charge. This allows the jury to consider a lesser count—namely criminally negligent homicide—after the panel indicated it was deadlocked on whether Daniel Penny was guilty of manslaughter (“Judge dismisses manslaughter charge in Daniel Penny trial: What this means,” by Adeja Shivonne, Fox News New York, Updated December 6, 2024, https://www.fox5ny.com/news/jury-deadlocked-daniel-penny-trial).
Shivonne explains, “While it remains unclear how this decision will affect deliberations, the judge emphasized that they should focus on the second charge moving forward… This charge will ultimately determine whether Penny is guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely.”
We can hope that a decisive verdict from the jury will come soon. What verdict they'll reach is anyone's guess.
Whatever the verdict, there is an urgent necessity to do much soul searching to avoid any more such future tragedies.