A medical expert for Daniel Penny’s defense in his New York manslaughter trial testified Thursday that the Marine veteran’s chokehold on Jordan Neely did not cause his death.
Rather, forensic pathologist Dr. Satish Chundru, who has performed over 9,000 autopsies, said it was drugs in Neeley’s system, as well as preexisting medical and other issues that did him in.
On May 1, 2023, Penny, 26, restrained Neely in a chokehold after he threatened to kill passengers on a New York City subway train, according to witnesses.
“Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator with a history of mental illness and drug abuse, had the synthetic marijuana in his system at the time of his death, trial evidence has shown,” the New York Post reported.
The 30-year-old also suffered from a sickle cell blood disorder. Sickle cell conditions affect blood flow in the body.
Chundru told jurors Thursday that “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana” was the cause of death.
“The chokehold did not cause death,” he said.
NEW: Daniel Penny’s chokehold on Jordan Neely is *not* what k*lled him, but was rather drugs and other effects, according to a medical expert who testified Thursday.
Forensic Pathologist Dr. Satish Chundru told jurors that autopsy records did not line up with typical… pic.twitter.com/59MDyQnV0n
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 22, 2024
Penny have been charged in this death?
Yes: 4% (12 Votes)
No: 96% (318 Votes)
The forensic doctor further testified those suffering from schizophrenia are at an “increased risk of sudden cardiac death,” according to the Post.
He also noted that deaths can be caused by K2 (synthetic marijuana) toxicity alone.
Additionally, Chundru explained that if Penny’s chokehold had been the cause of Neely’s demise there would have been an unconscious phase that happened before the death phase. He said Penny would have had to apply pressure for an extended period to cause a death.
CBS News reported that the defense asked, “The fact that someone is restrained in a position of a chokehold and dies, does that make it a chokehold death?”
“No,” Chundru responded.
“Did Mr. Penny choke Mr. Neely to death?” the defense asked.
“No,” Chundru said.
Jordan Neely’s cause of death wasn’t Daniel Penny chokehold — but ‘combined effects’ of drugs, struggle and schizophrenia: defense expert https://t.co/k7aAbJcqj4 pic.twitter.com/TGXTeBaT9x
— New York Post (@nypost) November 21, 2024
“He also pointed out what he said were discrepancies in Neely’s medical records, specifically bruising on the homeless man’s neck, and how there was ‘almost negligible’ petechia — tiny spots of bleeding — found on his eyelids, that Chundru claimed were inconsistent with a fatal chokehold,” according to CBS.
During the cross-examination of Chundru, prosecutors pointed out that the New York City medical examiner’s officers agreed unanimously that Neely’s death was caused by asphyxiation.
“Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy, previously testified she ruled his death compression of the neck before having toxicology and other reports back,” CBS also noted.
Chundru told jurors that he has worked in 20 offices over his career and was shocked by how quickly the New York City examiner’s office issued its cause of death finding.
Penny has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide and faces up to 15 years in prison.
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