Daniel Penny, a Marine Corps veteran who strangled Jordan Neely, a homeless man on the subway last week, surrendered to a charge of second-degree murder on Friday.
Penny, 24, wearing a dark gray suit, walked through the front gate of the National Police Agency’s 5th District at around 8:00 a.m. and was taken out of the police station at around 10:38 a.m. in handcuffs. He was loaded into a black police van waiting to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was to be indicted late Friday.
Mr. Penney confronted Jordan Neely, 30, on the F train on May 1 and choked him to death with a chokehold for several minutes. Witnesses said Neely, who had a history of mental illness, behaved in a “hostile and erratic manner” toward other passengers on the train, according to police, but Penny began to choke her.
The struggle on the F train was captured in a four-minute video that showed Penny continued to choke Mr. Neely for an additional 50 seconds after Mr. Neely stopped moving. Police interviewed Mr. Penny that night, but initially released him without charge.
A week and a half later on Thursday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed that they planned to indict Penny for murder.
In a statement, Mr. Penney’s attorneys, Steven M. Reiser and Thomas A. Keniff said, “I am confident that once all the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are revealed, Ms. Penney will be fully forgiven for any wrongdoing. ,
In the days following Mr. Neely’s murder, many city leaders, politicians, and advocates for New Yorkers struggling with mental illness and homelessness called for Mr. Penny’s immediate arrest. He said Mr Neely’s killing exposed the city’s failure to take care of its most vulnerable and marginalized residents.
Some Democratic politicians have criticized Mayor Eric Adams for his blunt initial response to the killings. A few days later, on Wednesday, the mayor said in a speech that Mr. Neely’s “life matters” and that his death was “a tragedy that should never have happened.”
“I have full faith in the judicial process and that justice can now proceed against Danielle Penney,” Mr Adams said in a statement on Thursday.
Nelly, a subway performer who is said to impersonate Michael Jackson, appears to have been suffering from severe mental illness in recent years and boarded a northbound F train at Second Street Station on the afternoon of May 1. I boarded, said Juan Alberto. Vazquez, a freelance journalist, recorded a video capturing what happened inside a subway car.
Mr. Vazquez said that Mr. Neely would “‘go to jail and get a life sentence'” and “‘I’m prepared to die.’
When the train stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette station, Penny pinned Nellie to the ground with a chokehold while two other men held her hands and feet. Mr. Vazquez said he did not see Mr. Penny grab Mr. Neely, but heard him patting and saw them both on the floor.
Police said they received a call around 2:27 pm. About the fight with the F train at the station.
Around 2:29 p.m. In the video, another passenger can be heard warning the men that they needed to make sure Mr Neely did not defecate himself, as his wife was in the military and said she knew about the choke hold .
“You don’t want to be charged with murder,” he says.
Mr. Neely was taken to Lenox Health Hospital in Greenwich Village, where he was pronounced dead. Two days later, the coroner ruled Mr. Neely’s death a homicide and stated that the cause of death was pressure on his neck.
As news of Mr. Penney’s planned indictment made waves on Thursday, National Urban League President and CEO Mark H. They said. it was necessary.”
“The methodical approach to justice in this case, although not always swift, is directed toward fair application of the rule of law,” he said.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, former President Donald J. Joshua Steinglass, a veteran homicide prosecutor who led the trial team in the Trump family business, is leading the investigation.
Second-degree murder, also known as reckless murder, requires prosecutors to prove that Mr. Penny caused Mr. Neely’s death and did so negligently. Mr Penney could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Mister. Penny’s lawyers believe that Mr. the power you used against Neely Lee was justified in view of the damage caused to Mr. Penny, the other passengers, or both.
The prosecutor must prove that Mr. Penney used deadly violence, not believe that Mr. Neely used or attempted to use deadly violence.
Several activists and politicians have called for Penney to be charged with murder. But it was an unlikely scenario. To obtain a murder conviction, the prosecutor would have to show that Mr. Penney either intended to cause Mr. Neely’s death or acted with “vicious indifference”. This can be a difficult criterion to meet under the circumstances.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed plans to prosecute Mr. Penney, suggesting they determined there was enough evidence to prepare to surrender. The office, however, is a Mr. who grew up on Long Island and has no criminal record. We still need to secure a grand jury indictment in order to move forward with the felony case against Penny.