Daniel Penny arrives in Manhattan court as subway chokehold trial kicks off with opening statements

Daniel Penny returned to a Manhattan courthouse this morning for opening statements in his manslaughter trial for the death of Jordan Neely, an erratic homeless man he placed in a chokehold during an outburst on the subway.

Outside, protesters held signs and a megaphone and blasted Penny’s actions as “illegal,” although his defense has argued his actions were entirely justified under the law because of threats Neely shouted out loud on the subway car.

Inside the courtroom, prosecutors delivered their remarks first, conceding that Neely “scared many of the people” on the train where he died.

“Jordan Neely took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train – at the time he died he was 30 years old, homeless, on synthetic drugs, and suffering from mental illness,” a Manhattan assistant district attorney began. 

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Video of the incident shows other passengers helped Penny restrain Neely, who later died. The trial kicks off after more than a week of jury selection.

Prosecutors, in a 45-minute opening statement, said Penny maintained the chokehold for 5 minutes and 53 seconds, calling the move “unnecessarily reckless.”

“He did not intent to kill him, but under the law deadly physical force such as a chokehold is permitted only when it is absolutely necessary and only for as long as it is absolutely necessary,” the prosecution continued.

Penny remained at the scene until police arrived. Neely was still breathing when he let him go.

There were women and children on the train, and Penny told detectives he perceived a threat, according to testimony from pretrial hearings.

When Neely walked into him, he said, he put him in a chokehold.

“I’m not trying to kill the guy,” he told detectives. “I’m just trying to de-escalate the situation.”

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Penny is a 25-year-old Marine Corps veteran and college student.

Neely was a 30-year-old homeless man and former Michael Jackson impersonator with a history of mental illness and criminality, including a prior charge for assaulting a 67-year-old New York City woman in 2021.

Penny faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted.