Daniel Penny was acquitted last year in the chokehold death of a homeless man aboard a New York City subway car.

The 26-year-old former Marine was charged with second-degree manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the May 2023 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.

A jury found Penny not guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Monday, three days after a Manhattan judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge as the 12-member panel said it could not reach a unanimous decision on the first and more serious of the two charges. The second-degree manslaughter charge carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; The maximum penalty for negligent homicide was four years. There was no minimum sentence for either charge.

Judge Maxwell Wiley had ordered the jury to return Monday to consider the second, lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. It deliberated for less than two hours before delivering its verdict.

During deliberations last week, the jury sent numerous notes to the judge asking him to view the police and bystander videos at the heart of the case, as well as the testimony of Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy.

According to the Associated Press, Penny smiled briefly as the verdict was read, while others in the courtroom responded with applause and anger. According to the AP, some, including Neely’s father, were told to leave.

How the incident unfolded

Penny, an architecture student, was on his way to the gym when he met Neely on an uptown F train in Manhattan on the afternoon of May 1, 2023.

Witnesses say Neely behaved erratically after getting on the train before Penny put him in a chokehold. Some witnesses told police that Neely yelled at other passengers, threw his jacket on the floor, complained about being hungry and thirsty and threatened to hurt people on the train. Others did not report hearing these threats.

Video taken by a fellow passenger shows Penny on the ground holding Neely in a chokehold while two other men stand above them. Penny then lets go of Neely, who lies motionless on the floor of the train.

When police arrived, Neely was unresponsive and first responders were unable to revive him. He was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Footage of the chokehold was shared widely online and sparked protests across the city.

Penny later told police that he “just put Neely in a chokehold” and “took her out” to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone.

What happened during the trial?

Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office argued that Penny’s chokehold – which lasted about six minutes – became reckless when he held on for too long, beyond the point where Neely posed some sort of threat to fellow passengers.

Penny’s lawyers argued that he “saw a real threat and took action to protect the lives of others” and that he restrained Neely using a “variation of a non-lethal choke hold” that he adopted from the martial arts training he received learned as a marine. In doing so, they suggested that Neely’s death could have been caused by something else.

But Harris, the medical examiner, testified that there was “no reasonable explanation” for Neely’s death other than Penny’s chokehold.

Harris had ruled the cause of death to be compression of the neck or asphyxia.

Jurors were shown a video of an interview Penny gave to police in which he demonstrated how he held Neely in a chokehold.

“He turned his back to me and I grabbed him and took him to the ground and he’s still squirming around and freaking out,” Penny can be heard saying in the video.

The defense also argued that Neely had already been arrested at the time of his death and had a history of mental illness and drug use.

The case sparked a national debate about mental illness, homelessness, violence and race. Neely was black. Penny is white.

Reactions to the verdict

Outside the courthouse, Dante Mills, an attorney for Neely’s family, criticized the jury.

“We are devastated, upset, angry, hurt,” Mills said, flanked by Neely’s father, Andre Zachery. “Jordan Neely was smothered by someone who didn’t care that people were telling him to stop. Last week the jury was: They couldn’t decide on the highest charge, but they came back his week and gave us up.”

“The district attorney did a good job,” Mills added. “The jury failed us in this case.”

Last week, Zachery filed a civil lawsuit against Penny, accusing him of negligent assault, battery and battery in Neely’s death.

“I miss my son,” Zachery said. “My son didn’t have to go through this. I didn’t have to go through that either.”