New York City Mayor Eric Adams appeared to defend the Navy veteran charged in the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man with a long criminal history who shouted death threats in a subway car before being subdued and strangled became.

Daniel Penny, 26, faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death in May 2023. He is also accused of negligent homicide.

Jurors began deliberating after a trial on Tuesday.

Neely, 30, who had a lengthy criminal record, mental illness and an active arrest warrant at the time of his death, boarded the train, threw his jacket on the ground and began making death threats to warn that this was not the case be afraid of dying, going back to prison or spending life in prison.

DANIEL PENNY RETURNS TO COURT TO COMPLETE PLEAS IN SUBWAY STRANGLEHOLD TRIAL

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks to reporters after a news conference in New York. Adams defended Marine veteran Daniel Penny, who is charged in the death of Jordan Neely in a subway car. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Penny grabbed him from behind in a headlock, wrestled him to the ground and held him in place with the help of another passenger. He remained at the scene and voluntarily spoke to police. Neely eventually died.

“We’re sitting on the subway right now and we’re hearing someone talking about hurting people and killing people,” Adams said on the Nov. 30 episode of “The Rob Astorino Show.” “There’s someone (Penny) on the subway who responded and did what we should have done as a city.”

“These passengers were scared,” the mayor added.

Penny continued to relent as Neely, who once performed as a Michael Jackson impersonator, stopped struggling and only squeezed to hold him as he tried to free himself, Penny’s defense attorney Steven Raiser told jurors during his Closing arguments.

Jordan Neely (left) and Moses Harper pose as Michael Jackson in front of Regal Cinemas in Times Square on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, where the Michael Jackson film “This is IT” is playing. Neely was killed on a New York subway on Monday, May 1, 2023, after reportedly being placed in a chokehold by a fellow passenger. (Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

“The government wasn’t there. The police weren’t there. Danny was there,” Raiser said. “And when he needed help, no one was there. The government has the guts to blame Danny because the police weren’t there? Blame Danny for holding on when the police weren’t there?”

Manhattan District Attorney Dafna Yoran countered, saying Penny “didn’t recognize that Jordan Neely was a person” and that “he saw him as a person who needed to be eliminated.”

Adams also criticized the city’s mental health system.

DANIEL PENNY PROSECUTOR HOLDS THE RACE CARD AGAIN TO A DEFENSE OBJECTION, DESPITE NO CHARGE OF HATE CRIME

Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely.

“Then look at the complete failure of our mental health system, a complete failure since the closure of mental hospitals and the fact that those who needed help were simply sent out onto the streets with no safety net for admission.”

The city coroner’s office ruled Neely’s death a homicide by asphyxiation and blamed the chokehold.

Neely has a history of assaulting subway riders and other criminal behavior. In 2021, he kicked a 67-year-old woman as she exited the Bowery train station East Village in Lower Manhattan.

Between January 2020 and August 2021, he was arrested three times: for public indecency after pulling down his pants and exposing himself to a strange woman, assault for punching a woman in the face, and criminal contempt for violating a restraining order . All three cases were dismissed as part of his Feb. 9 plea agreement.

While discussing the case, Adams also criticized the media’s use of a photo of Neely.

Daniel Penny arrives at the Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 in New York, NY. Closing arguments in his trial for second-degree manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2023 death of Jordan Neely in New York City are expected to end today, according to Metro. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

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“It seemed like it was a young, innocent child being brutally murdered and it gave that impression. If you look at the photo that was used, it was trying to convey to people that we were dealing with a young, innocent child.” Child you know, just a Michael Jackson impersonator who, as you know , was brutally attacked.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.