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The Subway Killing Case isn’t Over Yet
Why Daniel Penny may still be found liable for the wrongful death of Jordan Neely
On May 1, 2023, Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely boarded an F train in uptown Manhattan. Penny was a former Marine going home after an architecture class. Neely was a former street performer, now homeless, with a history of mental illness.
Neely began walking up and down the aisle, yelling loudly that he was hungry and that he wanted to go back to jail, where at least he would be fed and housed. Witnesses said Neely approached various passengers in this manner, until eventually Penny stepped up behind him and put him in a chokehold. The two men struggled for four minutes, until Mr. Neely went limp. He was later pronounced dead.
Arrested and charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, Penny maintained his innocence. He claimed defense of others, a kind of vicarious self-defense. Essentially, Penny’s argument was that any of the other passengers Neely accosted could have used force to defend themselves, so he had a right to step in and do what they may have simply been afraid, or incapable, of doing.
On December 9, a New York jury agreed. After the prosecution dropped the manslaughter charge, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the charge of…