NEW YORK — Two sources familiar with the matter told our sister station NBC New York that Daniel Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment. A spokesperson for Penny’s legal team had no comment.
The 24-year-old former Marine, who was seen on video strangling Jordan Neely on the floor of an F train in Manhattan last week, resulting in his death, was arraigned Friday on a murder charge. involuntary in the second degree.
The case has sparked protests in the city and controversy nationwide.
Daniel Penny pleaded no guilty in his 15-minute hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court. He was released on $100,000 bond and ordered to surrender any passports within 48 hours. He must also ask the court for permission if he wants to leave New York state, and he signed an extradition waiver guaranteeing his return should he do so without authorization.
Penny is due back in court on July 17. She turned herself in at a Lower Manhattan precinct earlier that day at the request of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, one of her attorneys, Thomas Keniff of the firm Raiser & Kenniff.
“He did it willingly and with the kind of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation,” Keniff said outside the police station shortly thereafter. “The case will now go to court and we expect an arraignment to take place this afternoon. The process will build from there.”
Penny’s lawyers previously said the Navy veteran acted in self-defense and to protect fellow subway riders from an alleged perceived threat. They say he “could not have foreseen” that Neely would die in the strangulation, and have called his death “the unfortunate result” of the Good Samaritan’s intervention. They also say that he will be cleared of the charge.
“When Mr. Penny, a decorated Navy veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured. He risked his own life and safety, for the sake of his fellow travelers,” said the attorney Steven Raiser. “The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely.”
Neely’s family has said the 24-year-old’s statements amount to a confession.
Political leaders and Neely’s family have been seeking criminal charges since the city’s medical examiner’s office ruled the case a homicide a day after the passenger’s death, and hours after Penny was released from police questioning. NYPD in connection with the case.
Sources said prosecutor Bragg’s decision to charge Penny was made in consultation with the NYPD before presenting him to a jury. Bragg, who was wearing a gray pinstriped suit, did not comment as he entered court Friday morning.
A Police Department spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. Second degree murder is a felony and applies to cases where someone recklessly causes the death of another person or intentionally causes or assists in the suicide of another person.
Ricardo Villarini informs us from Manhattan.
The expected court filing comes 11 days after Neely’s death on May 1 and amid mounting public pressure for accountability following the medical examiner’s determination. It was unclear if Bragg’s office intended to press charges against two other people seen holding Neely in that video or if those people had already been identified.
Witnesses reported that Neely, a homeless person with a lengthy criminal history and history of mental illness, was aggressive toward fellow passengers on a train at the Broadway-Lafayette station in SoHo. He had been yelling at the passengers, witnesses said, yelling that he was hungry and didn’t mind dying. The 30-year-old had been on a special city homeless list, considered a potential risk to himself and others.
Witnesses also said that Neely had not physically attacked anyone before Penny moved to subdue him. Penny was questioned by the NYPD that day and released. Then came the autopsy findings.
“One of our own is dead,” Adams said, empathizing with the emotional intensity that swept through the city over the case. “A black man, black like me, a man named Jordan, the name I gave my son, a New Yorker who battled tragedy, trauma and mental illness, a man whose last words were to ask for help, a man named Jordan Neley.”
Adams said his death is another indication that the mental health system needs an overhaul to better protect those who, as Neely says, fall through the cracks and “disappear into the shadows.”
Jennifer Vazquez, Andrew Siff, and Tracie Strahan contributed to this article.
