Veteran acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case

Associated Press New York: A Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider was acquitted on Monday in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valour and vigilantism. A Manhattan jury cleared Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely's 2023 death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count. Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.

Penny, who had shown little expression during the trial, briefly smiled as the verdict was read. Both applause and anger erupted in the courtroom, and Neely's father and two supporters were told to leave after making various remarks — including vulgarities from one of the supporters. Another person also left, wailing with tears. Penny's lawyers said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. The case amplified many American fault lines, among them race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was Black. Penny is white. There were sometimes duelling demonstrations outside the courthouse, and high-profile Republican politicians portrayed Penny as a hero while prominent Democrats attended Neely's funeral.

Penny, 26, served four years in the Marines and went on to study architecture. Neely, 30, was a sometime subway performer with a tragic life story: His mother was killed and stuffed in a suitcase when he was a teenager. As a younger man, Neely did Michael Jackson tributes complete with moonwalks on the city's streets and subways. But Neely also struggled with mental illness after losing his mother, whose boyfriend was convicted of murdering her. Hospitalised for depression at age 14, Neely later was diagnosed with schizophrenia that at times made him hallucinate and become paranoid, according to medical records seen at the trial. Neely also used the synthetic cannabinoid K2 and realised it negatively affected his thinking and behaviour, according to a 2019 hospital record.

The drug was in his system when he died. Neely told a doctor in 2017 that being homeless, living in poverty and having to”dig through the garbage” for food made him feel so worthless and hopeless that he sometimes thought of killing himself, hospital records show. About six years later, he boarded a subway under Manhattan on May 1, 2023, hurled his jacket onto the floor, and declared that he was hungry and thirsty and didn't care if he died or went to jail, witnesses said. Some told 911 operators that he tried to attack people or indicated he'd harm riders, and several testified that they were afraid.

Neely was unarmed, with nothing but a muffin in his pocket, and didn't touch any passengers on the train. One rider said he made lunging movements that alarmed her enough that she shielded her 5-year-old from him.