Daniel Penny did ‘what we wish someone would do for us’ when he intervened to stop Jordan Neely’s ranting on the New York subway: lawyer

Daniel Penny “did for others what we would want someone to do for us” – defending panicky subway riders of an “aggressive” Jordan Neely — when he placed the troubled homeless man in a fatal chokehold, attorneys said Friday.

Penny’s lawyer Thomas Kenniff, during the opening statement at the high-profile manslaughter trial in Manhattan, portrayed his client as someone who felt compelled to intervene to ensure that other riders would not be harmed by the rampaging Neely, making him less than a hero. but certainly a hero. not a murderer.

“This is a case about a young man who did for others what we would want someone to do for us,” Kenniff told the jury of 12 Manhattanites who will decide whether Penny, 26, “recklessly” killed Neely last May. has caused.

Prosecutors argued in their own opening statements that Penny was indeed “criminally reckless,” holding a 30-year-old Neely for nearly six minutes — despite knowing his actions could be fatal — because he did not recognize his humanity.“

“Sir. Penny was so reckless with Mr. Neely’s life because he failed to recognize his humanity,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran told jurors.

Kenniff said during his 20-minute speech that his client heard Neely say, “I will kill” on the crowded F train and “there was only one thing Daniel Penny could do.”

When a “soulful, psychotic” Neely first boarded the northbound train on May 1, 2023, he demanded food and money from other passengers and talked about going to Rikers Island and being sentenced to life in prison — before threatening Kenniff to ‘kill’. claimed.

All this while the “fear turns into outright panic” of the passengers – including a mother who cowered behind a bench to protect her baby, the lawyer said.

Penny “worked up the courage” to take action, and while “that doesn’t have to make him a hero… it doesn’t make him a murderer,” Kenniff argued.

But Yoran berated Penny during her 40-minute openings for going “way too far” when he “took on the task of taking down Mr. Neely and neutralizing him.”

The prosecutor said Penny’s “indifference toward Mr. Neely, the man whose life he literally held in his hands, causes him to ignore the most basic precautions and unnecessarily kill him long after any threat he might have made.”

Yoran laid out the evidence the prosecution will present against Penny at trial, including two videos filmed by bystanders – one of which showed Neely’s life being ‘stubbed out’, which the prosecution called ‘the most critical piece of evidence at trial’ mentioned. ”

The first witness called to testify – in the trial expected to last about four weeks – was NYPD officer Teodoro Tejada, who responded to the Broadway-Lafayette station, where the train was stopped, Neely searched for a weapon, but only found a weapon. muffin in his pocket.

Jurors were shown images from Tejada’s body camerawhich shows medics attempting to revive a lifeless Neely using various tools including chest compressions, CPR, a defibrillator, and even an injection of the drug Narcan to bring Neely back.

The video also showed a calm Penny calmly watching and chewing gum as the ETMs worked on Neely.

Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, cried as he sat in the courtroom watching the video of his son lying dead on the dirty floor of the train car.

Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

He has pleaded not guilty and maintained his actions were not racially motivated.

Kenniff has previously argued that Neely’s toxicology reports confirmed this had the drug K2 in his system when he died and “experienced a psychotic episode” while boarding the train.

Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, had a long history of mental illness and was on a city list of people on the streets in desperate need of help. The Post reported this earlier. The city Department of Homeless Services’ “Top 50” details which people cycle in and out of homeless shelters and mental health treatment centers.

When Penny walked into the lower Manhattan courthouse just before 10 a.m. Friday, so was he met by a group of Black Lives Matter protesters argue for his conviction.

The group — holding signs reading “Justice for Jordan Neely” and “Convicted Daniel Penny” — chanted phrases in various ways, including “subway strangler,” “being homeless is not a crime” and “say his name: Jordan Neely.”

Neely family attorney Donte Mills said Penny was trained as a Marine in martial arts and first aid but did not use them to help Neely.

“He used his martial arts training to kill Jordan Neely and didn’t use his first aid training at all because he didn’t think Jordan was worth it,” Mills alleged outside the courthouse.

“He was worth hurting, but he wasn’t worth trying to save. Therefore, he will be found guilty after this trial.”

– Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya and Melanie Marich