Marine veteran Daniel Penny was acquitted in the chokehold death of homeless subway rider Jordan Neely on Monday, spurring outrage from liberals on social media.
A Manhattan jury found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, a charge which carried a four-year maximum sentence. The more serious charge of second degree manslaughter, which carried a maximum 15-year sentence, was dismissed last week by Judge Maxwell Wiley, after jurors twice told the court they were deadlocked on the issue.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the chokehold death of Neely on a Manhattan subway car in May 2023. Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had an active arrest warrant at the time, had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2. Penny grabbed Neely from behind in a chokehold during the incident and Neely later died.
The high-profile case sparked debate about public safety, mental illness and homelessness on NYC’s subway system. Penny’s defense argued he was protecting others on the subway who were threatened by Neely’s outburst, and prosecutors argued that Penny acted with too much force and his actions led to Neely’s death.
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Liberal commentators reacted to the jury’s verdict on Monday by suggesting racism and bias against the homeless and the poor influenced the jury’s decision.
“Imagine, just imagine, if Jordan Neely had been White and Daniel Penny was Black. Imagine what some of the folks defending Penny today would be saying. Just imagine,” former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan wrote.
“Everything that led up to and followed the lynching of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train by Daniel Penny could have and should have been prevented,” Tiffany Cabán, Council member for NYC Council District 22 in Queens, New York, wrote on Bluesky.
“Jordan Neely deserved better than the violence of being denied access to stable housing and health care, and then dehumanized for it. Jordan Neely deserved better than the systems that allow for, and justify, extrajudicial white supremacist violence against Black people,” she added.
“Jordan Neely was 30-yrs old- struggling w mental illness, drug addiction & homelessness. He performed in NYC subways Danial Perry [sic] choked Mr Neely to death. A judge – not a jury- determined that Penny was not guilty of anything. I dont understand,” actress and activist Mia Farrow also wrote. In a reply, she noted that Penny was White and Neely was Black.
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“A confirmation, not that one was really needed, that our society does not see homeless people as human beings,” Jack Mirkinson, senior editor for The Nation, wrote on Bluesky.
“I am sick to my stomach at the sheer jubilation over on Twitter right now that Daniel Penny got away with murdering Jordan Neely, an unhoused Black man with mental issues. It’s disgusting,” Brooklyn Dad Defiant, a popular account with over 385,000 followers, posted to Bluesky.
“That Daniel Penny and Daniel Perry and Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman are all walking around free in the most carceral nation in the world is something that demands a reckoning,” activist Joe Katz wrote.
“Daniel Penny is a racist, classist, ableist murderer. He should face ignominy forever regardless of what a court does or doesn’t do to him,” Tim Wise, senior fellow at the African American Policy Forum, posted to X after the judge dismissed the more serious charge against Penny. The post drew over 4 million views over the weekend.
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Several other liberals on Bluesky made a connection between the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Penny’s acquittal.
“Guess we can call off the manhunt for the CEO assassin, vigilante killing is legal in NYC,” another Bluesky account with nearly 47,000 followers posted.
Black Lives Matter activists in New York previously threatened to protest if Penny was acquitted.
After Penny’s acquittal, New York BLM co-founder Hawk Newsome told reporters,”we need some Black vigilantes.”
“People want to jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud? How about we do the same when they attempt to oppress us?” he added.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, CB Cotton and Grace Taggart contributed to this report.
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