Navy veteran Daniel Penny will stand trial in October for the death of a mentally ill homeless man who was put in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway train last May.
The 25-year-old appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt and burgundy tie, where he is charged with the involuntary manslaughter of Jordan Neely.
Superior Court Judge Maxwell Wiley set a trial date for October 8, as well as a suppression hearing for September 17.
Penny’s lawyers previously tried to have the case dismissed, claiming he had ‘intervened to save lives’, but this was rejected in January.
He was 24 at the time of the incident and was filmed putting Neely in a chokehold and holding him on the ground until he was unconscious.
Neely was pronounced dead at the scene and the medical examiner later ruled the death a homicide, saying his neck injury proved the chokehold was the cause.
Daniel Penny will appear in court on Wednesday morning. His trial date is set for October 8
Navy veteran Daniel Penny appeared in a Manhattan court Wednesday, where the judge set a trial date of Oct. 8 in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely
Penny, 25, is charged in the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill homeless man he put in a chokehold on a New York City train last May
Neely’s father Andre Zachery was present in court and looked emotional as a trial date in his son’s death was announced.
Lennon Edwards, an attorney for Neely’s family, said: “The families of Andre Zachery and Jordan Neely continue to suffer. They are still in pain.
“Justice has not yet been served, but we remain committed to the belief that justice will be done in this case.
“We would like to remind you that when Jordan was on the train that day, he was unarmed. He didn’t have a gun, he didn’t have a knife, he was hungry. He asked for food.
“In his despair he was emotional, but sad does not mean he is dangerous, and so we ask you to keep an open mind and remember the pain this family is suffering.”
The attorney said he hopes the trial will allow people to see “what Daniel Penny really was that day.”
“He was the dangerous one and we trust that the district attorney will be able to deliver justice on behalf of Jordan Neely’s family,” he added.
“On that day, Daniel Penny was judge, jury and executioner and we expect that when this trial begins, he will face a judge, jury and verdict.”
Neely’s death sparked national outrage, with many comparing it to that of George Floyd. His family enlisted the help of civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump.
But Penny’s lawyers claim that onlookers feared for their lives because of Neely’s alleged threatening behavior, and that the ex-Marine intervened to protect them.
Others say the incident crystallized New York City’s crime crisis and led to many residents’ fears of the mentally ill roaming the subway system.
Last year, Penny’s attorneys filed a motion with the judge in October asking that the charges be dismissed.
They quoted a witness on the train who described Neely’s threats as “absolutely traumatizing” and beyond anything he had experienced in his six years on the subway. Penny’s lawyers called Neely “insanely threatening.”
In the years before his death, Neely’s mental health had deteriorated and the NYPD had issued a warrant for his arrest for beating an elderly woman on the subway. He was also accused of pushing a woman onto the tracks.
Witnesses said at the time of the incident that Neely was yelling that he was going to kill someone and that he didn’t care about going to jail.
Penny put Neely in a chokehold on the subway floor while others assisted on May 1
Neely had been in and out of the city’s homeless shelters in recent years, and his family says his mental health deteriorated dramatically after his mother was murdered when he was a teenager.
Penny’s attorneys asked the judge in October to dismiss the case, questioning the medical examiner’s findings and pointing to the fact that Neely had synthetic drugs in his system that could have contributed to his death.
But Judge Wiley denied their request in January, ruling that he was satisfied with the medical examiner’s findings.
Thomas Kenniff, an attorney representing Penny, has praised Brooklyn prosecutors for not filing charges against a man who shot an aggressive subway passenger last Thursday.
“If you approach it in a different way, like in the video we just saw, you don’t know if they have guns or knives and the situation can change,” he told Fox News.
“Is it a cruel irony that my client, who did everything right, is being charged, while others who rightfully are are not? Yes, you could say that.’