Former Marine Daniel Penny has been indicted in last month’s death of Jordan Neely aboard a New York City subway.
The charges will be officially unsealed when Penny appears to be arraigned. Penny was indicted Wednesday on one count of criminally negligent homicide and one count of second-degree manslaughter, the New York Post and Fox News each reported, citing sources it did not name.
Penny could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge.
Penny is accused of killing Jordan Neely, a homeless man, by putting him in a chokehold. Because Penny is white and Neely is black, the case convulsed New York City with protests and allegations that the incident was racial in nature.
According to ABC, citing police sources it did not name, neither Penny nor anyone else on the car was specifically threatened by Neely as Neely was ranting and making general threats.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said Penny held Neely for several minutes and that at some point Neely no longer was moving.
Rev. Al Sharpton was pleased at the indictment.
“The National Action Network has stood in support of Jordan’s family since day one. This was a clear-cut case of vigilantism that has no place in our society, which is why I spoke against it at Jordan’s funeral,” he said.
“NAN will continue to monitor this case to ensure this killer is held accountable and there is justice for Jordan,” he said, according to the New York Post.
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The indictment divided Twitter.
A grand jury indicted Daniel Penny over the death of Jordan Neely, as if he did anything wrong. Abhorrent. This was clearly political, and spurred on by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called it “murder” before the facts were even in. pic.twitter.com/0wwvA3XQ5K
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 14, 2023
A grand jury has indicted killer Daniel Penny in connection with choking Jordan Neely to death aboard a NYC subway train.
“Penny was not specifically being threatened by Neely when he intervened and that Neely had not become violent and had not been threatening anyone in… pic.twitter.com/uqCdTtUff4
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) June 14, 2023
Penny recently released a video of his side of the story.
“At Second Avenue, a man came on, [he] stumbled on,” Penny recounted in the video interview. “He appeared to be on drugs.”
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“The doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off, and [violently] threw it at the people sitting to my left,” Penny said. “I was listening to music at the time, and he was yelling, so I took my headphones out to hear what he was yelling.
“And the three main threats that he repeated over and over was, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ ‘I’m prepared to go to jail for life,’ and ‘I’m willing to die.’”
Penny’s family told the Post it was not commenting on the indictment.
Justine Baldwin, his cousin, said lawyers have advised the family to keep mum.
“We’re just letting them handle it from now on, thank you,” she said.
