NEW YORK (AP) In the chokehold manslaughter case against Daniel Pennyas, jurors were requested to watch police and witness footage on Wednesday after his attorneys claimed that the Marine veteran was being harassed by an aggressive demonstrator outside the courthouse in New York City.
The anonymous jury sent a note within an hour of the second day of deliberations, requesting a second viewing of the body camera footage of the officers who responded to the subway car where Penny grabbed hold of Jordan Neely, a tense man whose words and actions were frightening other passengers.
Jurors also want to see police footage of Penny’s station house interview with investigators and video of the about six-minute restraint, which was captured by a Mexican journalist aboard the train.
Penny has entered a not guilty plea to charges of criminally negligent murder and manslaughter. According to his defense, he had good reason to intervene to shield other metro passengers from Neely because he thought the man might be ready to harm someone.
According to the prosecution, Penny squeezed Neely’s neck too firmly and for too long in a careless manner. Although the defense argues that Neely’s death was caused by a combination of drug use, schizophrenia, a hereditary issue, and his battle with Penny, city medical examiners concluded that the chokehold was the cause of his death.
The case has sparked discussions about public safety, how society handles mental illness and homelessness, where to draw the line between aggressiveness and self-defense, and how race plays a part in all of this. Neely was Black, and Penny is White.
As Penny comes and goes, a few demonstrators have regularly congregated outside the courthouse to voice their disapproval. Additionally, a Penny fan with a flag frequently shows up.
At one point during the trial, a protester followed Penny to a waiting car and rapped on the doors, defense attorney Thomas Kenniff claimed in court on Wednesday. According to the lawyer, Penny was insulted by the same individual when he showed up on Wednesday.
Kenniff requested that Judge Maxwell Wiley prohibit the individual, stating that he had occasionally been in the courtroom audience.
Wiley declined, citing the public’s right to view court proceedings, while claiming to have witnessed the vehicle incident from his office window. He claimed that court officials have occasionally denied people entrance due to their behavior, which he did not specify, but only because it took place in a courtroom.
Witnesses claimed that on May 1, 2023, Neely boarded a train in Manhattan, began acting strangely, shouted about his hunger and thirst, and declared that he was prepared to die, go to jail, or, as Penny and a few other passengers remembered, to kill.
Penny approached Neely from behind, seized his head and neck, and dragged him to the ground. In order to be sure he wouldn’t harm anyone, the veteran later told authorities that he just put him in a chokehold and let him go.
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Larry Neumeister, a journalist for the Associated Press, contributed.
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