Daniel Penny found not guilty in subway chokehold trial

close Video

NYC jurors set to deliberate fate of Daniel Penny after closing arguments

Fox News’ CB Cotton reports the latest on Daniel Penny’s manslaughter trial in New York City. Fox News contributor Paul Mauro and former NYPD lieutenant Darrin Porcher also weigh in on the case during ‘America’s Newsroom.’

Join Fox News for access to this content Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge. By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. Please enter a valid email address. By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. Having trouble? Click here.

NEW YORK – Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely.

It comes after jurors told the court Friday morning they couldn’t reach an agreement on the top charge, second-degree manslaughter, and prosecutors moved to dismiss it, prompting the judge to controversially allow them to only deliberate the second charge.

Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.

Penny’s side of the courtroom erupted in cheers, prompting an angry response from Neely’s side, including his father, Andre Zachary, who was escorted out of the courthouse along with several Black Lives Matter leaders after allegedly snapping.

DANIEL PENNY RETURNS TO COURT FOR CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL

Daniel Penny was not found guilty in the death of Jordan Neely. Daniel Penny made a hasty exit from the courts after the verdict with his attorneys, Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 9, 2024   (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

Someone clapped, and Zachary turned and glared, “Are you trying to f—ing get killed?” The man who clapped later told Fox News he did not take the comment as a threat.

Hank Newsome, a leader of BLM’s New York chapter, commented that “It’s a small world.” Others on Neely’s side of the courtroom were seen weeping at the verdict.

In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office secured charges against Penny with a grand jury indictment after police had questioned and released him in connection with the incident, said he would respect the jury’s decision. However, he also condemned “unacceptable” behavior that he said had targeted his prosecutors.

Screenshot from bystander video showing Jordan Neely being held in a chokehold on the New York City subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez via Storyful)

“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,” he said. “Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it.”

Maud Maron, a former public defender and parents’ rights advocate who is running to unseat Bragg, condemned her opponent for bringing the case to begin with.

“The NYPD Officers who initially interviewed Daniel Penny and declined to arrest him got it right,” she told Fox News Digital. :The Manhattan jury who heard all the evidence, deliberated and returned a verdict of not guilty got it right. The New Yorkers and their fellow Americans who were rooting for Daniel Penny as a hero and understood he should never have been charged in the first place got it right. The only person who got this wrong was Alvin Bragg. DA Bragg has pursued a reckless ideological agenda since his first day in office. Manhattan deserves a district attorney who will defend all New Yorkers, apply the law fairly and make Daniel Penny’s heroism unnecessary by cleaning up the subways and streets of New York City.”

Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson movie, “This is It,” outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in Times Square, New York, in 2009.  (Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The incident happened on May 1, 2023. Neely barged onto an F train in Manhattan screaming death threats. Witnesses testified that Neely’s threats scared them more than a typical subway outburst would. They were thankful for Penny’s intervention.

Neely had a lengthy criminal record, an active arrest warrant, a history of psychosis and was high on K2, a synthetic form of marijuana that pathologists described as a stimulant. He also had the sickle cell trait genetic disorder.

Just three days earlier, a straphanger had been stabbed with an ice pick on a J train, according to reports from the time. It was about a month after a PBS reporter got sucker punched on a No. 4 train. There was a shove a week before that, and the victim hit the side of a moving R train and survived.

In that climate of fear, witnesses said they were terrified by Neely, who shouted death threats at them.

Witness Ivette Rosario, a 19-year-old student, testified that Neely shouted someone would “die that day.”

“I got scared by the tone that he was saying it,” she said. “I have seen situations, but not like that.

Penny, in a voluntary interview with police after the incident, raised concerns about a series of subway shoving incidents involving mentally ill people on the city’s transit system.

Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York, NY on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

“He was talking gibberish…but these guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff,” he told detectives. There were more than 20 subway shoves in the year before Penny’s encounter with Neely. He was released without charges after the interview.

Kyle Rittenhouse, who was also acquitted at trial after shooting three men in self-defense at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, congratulated Penny in a post on X.

But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office secured a grand jury indictment days later, and Penny was arrested on May 12.

Jurors deliberated for a little less than four hours Tuesday and all day Wednesday, sending several notes to the judge. Among the items they asked for were videos of the chokehold and of Penny’s interview with police, as well as the judge’s instructions regarding justification for physical force and the definitions of recklessness and negligence. 

Penny would have faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted of the lesser charge.

Daniel Penny arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse building in New York City on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 for the start of closing arguments. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This is a breaking news story. Stick with Fox News Digital for updates.