The trial of NYC subway hero Daniel Penny appears close to a verdict, based on a note jurors handed down Friday morning.
The judge overseeing the 26-year-old’s manslaughter trial received a brief note from the 12 Manhattan jurors declaring they have reached an impasse on whether Penny is guilty of killing a disturbed Michael Jackson impersonator on a New York Subway in 2023. Seven women and five men have deliberated for more than two days following dramatic closing arguments that centered on whether Penny used excessive force in placing Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold after he physically threatened passengers who feared he was carrying a deadly weapon.
The Friday note, the ninth jurors have sent the judge since beginning deliberations, confirms that the jury is unable to come to a unanimous decision on the manslaughter count and asked whether it was necessary to do so before reaching a verdict on a second charge of criminally negligent homicide. Judge Maxwell Wiley informed jurors that they must continue working to reach a unanimous verdict before considering the second charge, NewsNation reports.
Among the testimony heard by jurors was that of Dr. Cynthia Harris, who testified that the amount of illicit drugs in Neely’s system at the time of his death was a greater contributing factor than Penny’s instinctual action to protect fellow passengers from the fist-wielding homeless man. “No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” Harris said, even if they showed “enough fentanyl to put down an elephant.” Other toxicology experts have testified about results showing Neely had also ingested K2, a powerful synthetic marijuana that can cause hallucinations, before his death. Their testimony was at odds with arguments by prosecutors within District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office who said it was primarily Penny’s chokehold that killed Neely. Penny has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The prospect of a hung jury threatens to unleash riots in New York City four years after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Neely, who was Black, has been held up as a symbol of a broken mental health system that failed to serve the young man before he fell into a manic episode aboard the subway train that day. In contrast, public safety advocates have cited Penny’s subduing of Neely as an example of what jurors might hope would happen if a loved one were aboard the train that day and put at risk by Neely.
