Post by Admin on May 12, 2023 17:59:23 GMT
A former US Marine who placed a passenger in a fatal chokehold on the New York subway has appeared in court to be charged with manslaughter.
Daniel Penny, 24, is accused of causing the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on 1 May. He did not enter a plea.
His lawyers said he could not have known his actions to subdue Mr Neely would lead to his death.
Mr Neely, who was homeless, was pinned to the ground and restrained for several minutes on the train carriage.
He had been shouting at other passengers and asking for money, witnesses said.
Mr Neely was later found unconscious in the carriage and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. His death resulted from compression of the neck, the city's medical examiner ruled.
Hands cuffed behind his back, Mr Penny appeared later on Friday at Manhattan Criminal Court to be formally charged. A judge set his bail at $100,000 (£80,000). Mr Penny must return to court on 17 July or a warrant will be issued for his arrest, the judge said.
On the day of the incident, Mr Penny was questioned by police and then released.
But footage of the altercation on a northbound F train set off protests, and the Manhattan district attorney's office launched an investigation.
The video, captured by a freelance journalist on the train, shows the former Marine holding Mr Neely around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.
The journalist who filmed it, Juan Alberto Vazquez, told the New York Times that Mr Neely had shouted at passengers but did not attack anyone.
He recalled Mr Neely saying "I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison" before he was restrained.
According to New York law, that charge will require a jury to find that Mr Penny engaged in reckless conduct that created an unjustifiable risk of death.
New York defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told the BBC he thought prosecutors would fail meet this standard, and show Mr Penny knew his actions would kill.
"If litigated properly this is a slam dunk acquittal," he said, calling Mr Penny a "sympathetic defendent".
In a statement released a few days after Mr Neely's death, Mr Penny's lawyers said their client had "never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death".
Mr Penny spent four years in the Marines, rising to the rank of sergeant before being honourably discharged in June 2021, according to his lawyers. He is now enrolled in a full-time bachelor's college degree studying architecture.
The New York Times previously reported that a person named Danny Penny with an identical military background had posted on a hospitality website that he had dropped out of college and was looking for bartending work in Manhattan.
Daniel Penny, 24, is accused of causing the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on 1 May. He did not enter a plea.
His lawyers said he could not have known his actions to subdue Mr Neely would lead to his death.
Mr Neely, who was homeless, was pinned to the ground and restrained for several minutes on the train carriage.
He had been shouting at other passengers and asking for money, witnesses said.
Mr Neely was later found unconscious in the carriage and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. His death resulted from compression of the neck, the city's medical examiner ruled.
Hands cuffed behind his back, Mr Penny appeared later on Friday at Manhattan Criminal Court to be formally charged. A judge set his bail at $100,000 (£80,000). Mr Penny must return to court on 17 July or a warrant will be issued for his arrest, the judge said.
On the day of the incident, Mr Penny was questioned by police and then released.
But footage of the altercation on a northbound F train set off protests, and the Manhattan district attorney's office launched an investigation.
The video, captured by a freelance journalist on the train, shows the former Marine holding Mr Neely around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.
The journalist who filmed it, Juan Alberto Vazquez, told the New York Times that Mr Neely had shouted at passengers but did not attack anyone.
He recalled Mr Neely saying "I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison" before he was restrained.
According to New York law, that charge will require a jury to find that Mr Penny engaged in reckless conduct that created an unjustifiable risk of death.
New York defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told the BBC he thought prosecutors would fail meet this standard, and show Mr Penny knew his actions would kill.
"If litigated properly this is a slam dunk acquittal," he said, calling Mr Penny a "sympathetic defendent".
In a statement released a few days after Mr Neely's death, Mr Penny's lawyers said their client had "never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death".
Mr Penny spent four years in the Marines, rising to the rank of sergeant before being honourably discharged in June 2021, according to his lawyers. He is now enrolled in a full-time bachelor's college degree studying architecture.
The New York Times previously reported that a person named Danny Penny with an identical military background had posted on a hospitality website that he had dropped out of college and was looking for bartending work in Manhattan.