Judge to read charges against Daniel Penny in Jordan Neely death case

NEW YORK — The man charged in the subway strangulation death of Jordan Neely will face a judge again Wednesday, this time to hear charges from a jury indictment issued earlier this month.

Daniel Penny was initially charged last month with second-degree manslaughter in Neely’s May 1 death. Neely had been a Michael Jackson impersonator who struggled in recent years with homelessness and mental health issues.

A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the specific charges in the prosecution would be unsealed at an arraignment scheduled for Wednesday morning. Penny had initially been charged with second-degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, but a jury’s approval of the charges was needed for the case to proceed.

How the events occurred

Neely was yelling at passengers and asking for money when Penny, a former US Marine, pinned him to the floor of the moving subway car with the help of two other passengers. Penny then allegedly held Neely in a chokehold that lasted over three minutes until his body stopped moving.

Penny has argued that he was protecting himself and other passengers, claiming that Neely yelled “I’m going to kill you” and that he was “ready to die” or go to jail for life.

“I was screaming in their faces by saying these threats,” Penny said in a video released by her lawyers this week. “I just couldn’t sit still.”

A freelance journalist who recorded Neely struggling to free herself and then losing consciousness, said she was acting aggressive and scaring people, but had not assaulted anyone. Neely was black. Penny is white.

Protests after Neely’s death

Neely’s death sparked protests from people who saw the case as an example of racial injustice, leading to a debate about vigilantism and public safety in New York City. Several commentators, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, compared the strangulation death to the 1984 Bernhard Goetz case, in which a white man shot four black men on a subway train.

Others have joined Penny, including several of the Republican presidential candidates. A fund set up to pay for Penny’s legal defense has raised more than $2.8 million, according to her lawyers.

The lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Keniff, said they were confident a trial jury would find Penny’s actions on the train justified.

“While we respect the jury’s decision to take this case to trial, it should be noted that the standard of evidence in a jury is very low and there have been no wrongdoings,” they said.

In a statement, attorneys for the Neely family, Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards, said the jury’s decisions “tell our city and our nation that ‘no one is above the law’ no matter how much money they raise, no matter whatever affiliations they have and regardless of the distorted stories they tell.”

Neely, 30, had been arrested multiple times and recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station in 2021.

Penny, 24, was released on $100,000 bond after appearing in court on May 12.

In a statement following news of the indictment, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the indictment would allow justice to move forward.

“I appreciate District Attorney Bragg conducting a thorough investigation into the death of Jordan Neely,” he said. “As I said when the DA first filed charges, I have the utmost faith in the judicial process, and now that the jury has indicted Daniel Penny, a trial and justice can move forward.”