Attorney Brian Claypool accused prosecutor of deliberately ‘overcharging’ Navy veteran Daniel Penny in the Jordan Neely subway chokehold case, knowing that the measure would amount to the jury weighing the “easier to prove” lesser charge.
The judge in the high-profile case granted the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the top manslaughter charge for the jury broken for the weekendleaving them to weigh the lesser charge of negligent homicide when court deliberations resume Monday.
Jurors twice failed to reach a unanimous agreement, prompting dismissal.
“When this case started, I thought this prosecutor overcharged Daniel Penny. This was never a second-degree manslaughter case; that requires that Penny had the intent to harm Jordan Neely. That requires proof that Penny knew and reasonably suspected that Jordan Neely was.” I’m dying from this chokehold and still did,” Claypool said.
“There are no facts to support that, so these prosecutors overcharged, knowing they would never get a conviction for second-degree manslaughter, and got what they wanted. Then they got the judge to say, ‘Well , you can’t agree with it.’ about that, but let’s go to the lesser charge, which is easier to prove.’ What that does is it prompts jurors to throw up their guns after deliberating for three or four days and say, “Okay, let’s just put them on the lesser charge.” So it’s patently unfair, and that is a miscarriage of justice.”
Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, November 22, 2024. Penny, a Marine veteran, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Penny’s defense said in a statement Friday that it is “cautiously optimistic” that the remaining count will be dismissed by the jury on Monday, allowing the “nightmare” to be put behind Penny.
DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: MEET THE JURYRS WHO WILL DECIDE MARINE VETERAN’S FATE IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD CASE
Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson film “This is It” outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Ave in 2009. and 42nd St. in Times Square, New York. (Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“…(This would) allow us to focus on the civil lawsuit, filed two days ago, alleging the same allegations contained in the criminal complaint,” the statement continued.
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Penny is accused of using a chokehold on 30-year-old Neely, resulting in his death after Neely told passengers aboard a New York City subway that someone was “going to die today” and that he didn’t care to go to jail for that. to live.
