Jurors in New York City have returned the verdict Not Guilty of negligent homicide in the divisive, emotional case against Daniel Penny for Jordan Neely’s death. Neely was a mentally ill man who was scaring and threatening passengers on a New York subway until Penny subdued him from behind in a chokehold.
The prosecution argued the chokehold went too long, thereby resulting in an unneccessary death. The defense successfully argued Neely was terrorizing other train passengers whom Penny was protecting. The defense also maintained that while the death was unfortunate and unintended, other factors including drugs in Neely’s system were intervening factors. Some detractors of the verdict maintain racism was behind the jury’s verdict.
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