Judge Shocks Courtroom in Daniel Penny Case, Drops Manslaughter Charge

In the case of the Good Samaritan Marine veteran, the judge dismisses the most serious charge in an effort to avoid a mistrial.

Daniel Perry is a hero. He selflessly acted to protect others. The end result of this unjust prosecution is no one will dare come to the aid of a fellow New Yorker. Horrible.

NY Sun: The decision by New York prosecutors to drop the most serious charge against criminal defendant Daniel Penny in order to avoid a mistrial underscores the power of prosecutors. The retreat — it lets the jury consider a lesser charge — throws into relief that though defendants are entitled to the presumption of innocence, it is the government that holds the advantage. In other words: Tails District Attorney Alvin Bragg wins, heads Mr. Penny loses.

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Mr. Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, opposed the prosecution’s motion to dismiss the count against him of second-degree manslaughter after a jury twice said it was deadlocked. He called it “elbowing the jury.” Mr. Penny, whose fatal encounter with Jordan Neely aboard a New York subway train precipitated this case, wants a mistrial. Mr. Kenniff is worried that the jury could be cooking up a “coercive or a compromised verdict.”

That appears to be a well-founded fear. The Legal Information Institute explains that a compromised verdict can take the form of “an agreement to meet-in-the-middle” and thereby avoid a mistrial, which would send the parties back to square one. Judge Maxwell Wiley, not exactly projecting judicial brio, ventured that whether the dismissal “makes any difference or not I have no idea.” He has been exhorting the jury to reach a verdict.

Is any verdict, though, better than none? We understand that judges are loath to preside over mistrials. Yet such an all-fired push for a verdict in the Penny case risks trampling on the due process that makes verdicts sturdy in the first place. Already the 11th hour decision to pull the top charge appears ready-made for appeal. Were the government as convinced of its case as it purported to be, why say “never mind”?

Daniel Penny (24) put a homeless felon in a fataI chokehold to stop him from attacking people on his NY train.

Bail: $200,000
Appeal: Rejected

Jordan Williams (20) st@bbed and kiIIed a homeless man to stop him from attacking people on his NY train.

Bail: $0
Charges: Dropped pic.twitter.com/a3s0qZqOLi

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 6, 2024

Daniel Perry Jury DEADLOCKED

Legal expert Jonathan Turley on X explains it this way:

“The judge has dismissed the first count on second-degree manslaughter and is allowing the jury to consider the second count after the weekend. This is precisely what Bragg was hoping for in setting up a possible compromise verdict.

With the Allen charge, the prosecutors hoped to pressure the jury into voting on the low standard of criminal negligence. Outside of New York or a few other cities, this case would likely either have not been brought or would have collapsed quickly before the jury.

I am still hopeful that there will be holdouts on the lesser offense. That would leave this as a hung jury, though the treatment of Penny will leave chilling message for New York thinking of protecting others in New York.

Bragg often seems to be driven more by cable news than the criminal code. He has made clear that citizens acting to protect others can expect little support from his office.”

The reality is that Penny, a Marine veteran, stepped up to protect innocent passengers on a New York City subway in May of 2023 when a belligerent, out-of-control thug, Jordan Neely, began taunting passengers that “I’m going to kill you,” “I’m prepared to go to jail for life,” and “I’m willing to die.” Notably, Neely had an active warrant out for an alleged assault in 2021 that involved him assaulting a woman on the subway, according to Fox News.

In the face of this threat, Penny did what any brave, decent American should do, he intervened and subdued Neely to protect the lives of everyone on that train.

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One witness who described herself as a woman of color told Fox News in the aftermath that Penny was a “hero.”

“I believe in my heart that [Penny] saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt,” the witness told Fox News. “We were scared for our lives.”

Yet despite this, the left-wing Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, under the disastrous leadership of Alvin Bragg, charged Penny with one count of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter.

And now, after hearing all the evidence, the jury is still “deadlocked” about what to do with the fate of a man who “saved a lot of people.” There is at least one individual, if not more, who believes Penny is guilty and should be thrown in jail.

But Penny isn’t a criminal. He’s the definition of a Good Samaritan. He acted swiftly to protect innocent passengers. He embodies the best America has to offer — a young man who doesn’t run from danger but runs toward it to protect others. And Penny isn’t the only New Yorker who has been willing to step in and protect fellow passengers from dangerous perpetrators. For example, Jordan Williams, a 20-year-old black man, defended his girlfriend and other subway passengers from a violent subway rider on a Queens subway in June of 2023. Williams had his charges dropped before a trial even began.

So why is Penny, who did the same thing, facing the possibility of over a decade in prison? (The Federalist)

This is the person prosecuting Daniel Penny pic.twitter.com/48shi2L8ej

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 6, 2024

I guarantee that this is the MF responsible for the deadlocked #DanielPennyTrial verdict. pic.twitter.com/rYXMj42fxH

— 👣ℙ𝕖𝕕𝕣𝕠'𝕤 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖🇺🇲 (@OfAthenry) December 6, 2024

BREAKING: Rep Eli Crane to introduce a resolution to award Daniel Penny a Congressional Gold Medal for his heroic actions pic.twitter.com/fdowMsY6dd

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 6, 2024

Judge Shocks Courtroom in Penny Case, Scrapping Manslaughter Charge: Twice Deadlocked Jury Will Consider Lesser Charge on Monday

The judge’s unorthodox move, endorsed by the prosecution and opposed by the defense, forces the jury to return next week to deliberate the lesser negligent homicide charge.

Daniel Penny, who is charged in the death of Jordan Neely, walks through a hallway as the jury continues with deliberations at Manhattan Criminal Court at New York City on December 06, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By: Marie Pohl, NY Sun,

In an unusual and controversial decision, the judge presiding over the trial of Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who is accused of killing a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator on a New York subway last year, dismissed the most serious charge, second-degree manslaughter, on Friday after the jury twice said it was deadlocked. The defense did not condone this legal maneuver. The jury, which could not agree on whether Mr. Penny was guilty of the manslaughter charge, will return on Monday to consider the second, lesser charge, criminally negligent homicide.

“This is essentially elbowing the jury,” defense attorney Thomas Kenniff told the judge, who said he agreed with the defense’s argument but went ahead to dismiss the count anyway, as had been requested by the prosecution.

“It’s an odd combination of factors,” the famed criminal defense and civil rights attorney Ron Kuby told the Sun on Friday afternoon. “The law is fairly clear. Procedurally we don’t want juries compromising if it can be avoided. That’s why when you have a top charge and lesser included offenses, you have to consider the top charge before going to the lesser offenses. Because you don’t want the jury to go through the lesser charges and work out some sort of compromise verdict. You want a verdict based on the evidence and the charged crime.” Mr. Kuby added that “It is extremely unusual that the defense lawyer fights to keep the most serious charge, and the prosecutor fights to dismiss the most serious charge that they brought. That’s an unusual procedural posture.”

After the jury was deadlocked, as the Sun reported, on Friday morning and had been directed by the judge to deliberate further, a new note arrived in the courtroom at 3:03 pm.

“We, the jury, would like to inform Judge Wiley,” the note read, “that after further deliberations we cannot come to a unanimous decision on count one – manslaughter in the second degree.” The presiding judge, Maxwell Wiley, paused. Then he told the attorneys, “We might ask to dismiss the top count.”
Daniel Penny, who is charged in the death of Jordan Neely, walks through a hallway as the jury continues with deliberations at Manhattan Criminal Court at New York City on December 06, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

He explained that after looking at the case law, he found that contrary to his “gut feeling,” New York State criminal procedural law does not “want to put a stamp of approval on a compromise verdict.”

An assistant district attorney, Dafna Yoran, who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told the court that she found it, “just bizarre that they keep hanging on this count.” She was referring to the manslaughter charge.

“It’s not bizarre.” Judge Wiley said. “They’re following my instructions.”

He had clearly instructed the jury that before considering the lesser charge, negligent homicide, which carries a maximum of four years in prison, they had to decide on the higher charge, second degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Jordan Neely was a well-known Michael Jackson impersonator. Twitter / X

Ms. Yoran, who had previously signaled her agreement to the idea of dismissing the manslaughter charge, briefly left the courtroom to discuss the matter with her team.

When she returned, Ms. Yoran said, “The people move to dismiss the top count.”

“We oppose that,” Mr. Kenniff said, speaking for the defense, adding that he was not aware of any cases where this had been permitted. It would set a dangerous example, “from a policy standpoint,” he said, to dismiss the top charge, because it could encourage prosecutors in the future to “overcharge” defendants, knowing these charges would just be dismissed.

But Mr. Kuby told the Sun over the phone, “There is no check of the prosecution overcharging cases. The prosecution regularly overcharges in order to force a plea, or an acquittal on a top charge but a conviction on a lower one. Alvin Bragg could have charged Penny with what is known as depraved indifference murder. He chose not to.”

Continued…..

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