A New York court has denied Daniel Penny’s request to drop involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who threatened subway passengers before being subdued by the Marine veteran.
Penny, 25, was charged in the May 2023 death of Neely after putting him in a chokehold on a New York City train, claiming the mentally ill man “appeared to be on drugs,” and yelled threats like “I’m going to kill you! I’m prepared to go to jail for life and I’m willing to die.”
After Penny wrestled him to the floor, Neely was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner later ruled it a homicide due to his neck injuries, the Daily Mail reported.
Penny’s defense team requested in October that the judge dismiss the manslaughter charges, doubting the medical examiner’s conclusion and highlighting the fact that Neely had synthetic drugs in his system at the time of the incident, which could have contributed to his death.
In addition to the drugs, Penny’s attorneys pointed out that witnesses also perceived Neely to be a serious threat, and that he had a long criminal history including violence.
“I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric,” one 60-year-old eyewitness told Fox News. “He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an F, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet.’”
The retiree said passengers were crowding around the exit signs and that they were all “scared for our lives.”
Neely had 42 prior arrests and an active warrant at the time of his death, Newsweek reported.
In a November 2021 incident, Neely attacked a 67-year-old woman, leaving her with a broken nose and black eye.
Despite mounting public support for Penny’s actions, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley rejected the request for dismissal on Wednesday, ruling that the medical examiner’s assertion that the chokehold caused the death is enough to proceed.
Penny was also previously hit with a count of negligent homicide in addition to the involuntary manslaughter charge. He pleaded not guilty to both.
While many conservatives have raised money and spoken out on behalf of the young U.S. Marine veteran, Neely’s supporters have painted the issue as “racist.”
“Go back to Long Island, you racist…,” pro-Jordan Neely demonstrators shout at Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who’s in Manhattan to support Daniel Penny. pic.twitter.com/iJVzOA1loz
— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) May 24, 2023
An attorney representing Neely’s father said he was relieved with the judge’s decision.
“This was a win today, a big win… I think it’s important to note that a grand jury said that Daniel Penny should face charges for killing Jordan Neely,” the lawyer, Donte Mills, said. “His attorneys tried to overrule that to say that what the grand jury said didn’t matter but the judge didn’t do that and we will be back here in March.”
“Penny will face charges and our expectation is that Daniel Penny will be found guilty for [the] killing of Jordan,” he continued.
With regard to the drugs Neely was on at the time of the incident, Mills said that was just an “excuse” made by Penny’s defense.
“Daniel Penny did not know what was in Jordan’s system when he decided to choke him to death when he was not fighting back and when he did not touch him in the first place,” he said. “He killed somebody when he didn’t have to, there is no way to justify that.”
