Daniel Penny’s lawyers say he should go free, pointing to a subway shooting last week where no charges were filed because the district attorney ruled it was self-defense. But, the family of the man who died in the chokehold says this is a different case.
The Marine veteran charged with killing a mentally ill homeless man on a New York City subway last year by putting him in a chokehold appeared back in court Wednesday. His lawyers want all of his charged dropped, arguing it was self-defense, but the family of the man who died in the chokehold do not agree.
Last May, 24-year-old Daniel Penny was arrested for manslaughter after he put Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely, in a fatal chokehold.
Penny’s lawyers claim Neely was screaming and threatening violence.
The Marine veteran’s lawyers are comparing what happened to the subway incident from last week when a deranged man pulled a gun on another passenger who was able to grab the gun and shoot the attacker. The incident led to chaos during rush hour but no charges were filed. The Brooklyn district attorney ruled the shooter acted in self-defense.
Penny’s lawyer say the two incidents should be treated the same.
“So much of that situation my client encountered,” Penny’s lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, told Fox News. “You really get an appreciation of how my client, Daniel Penny, handled the situation because he went up behind Jordan Neely, used not a chokehold but restraint move to take him down to the ground.”
Neely’s family says the cases are very different.
"Jordan did not touch anyone, he did not strike anyone on that subway, he did not have a weapon, he did not have a knife, he did not have a gun. What he had was some mental issues," says the Neely family’s attorney, Donte Mills. “People told Daniel, ‘Let him go, he’s dying.’ He continued to hold that chokehold until Jordan was dead. That’s not self-defense. That’s murder.”
The judge ruled Penny’s trial will move forward.
If found guilty, Penny could face up to 15 years in prison.
