Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Daniel Penny: New York: Fault and 'fault lines,' Major Development: He has been acquitted by the Manhattan jury trying the New York City subway chokehold case. (Jordan Neely's death)…"Penny, 26, gripped Jordan Neely around the neck for about six minutes in a chokehold that other subway passengers partially captured on video. Penny’s lawyers said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. The defense also disputed a city medical examiner’s finding that the chokehold killed Neely. Prosecutors said Penny reacted far too forcefully to someone he perceived as a peril, not a person."


BACKGROUD: From a previous post: "The jury of seven women and five men sent a note to Judge Maxwell Wiley around 3pm on Wednesday asking to rehear pat of the city Medical Examiner's testimony about issuing a death certificate without getting toxicology results for the 30-year-old victim. Dr. Cynthia Harris had testified that bystander video of Penny's six-minute encounter with Neely onboard the F train in Manhattan, as well as investigative findings gave her all the information she needed to declare that Neely died of compression to the neck, NBC 4 reports. 'No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,' Harris said, even if it showed 'enough fentanyl to put down an elephant.'


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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The case amplified many American fault lines, among them race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was Black. Penny is white. There were sometimes dueling demonstrations outside the courthouse, and high-profile Republican politicians portrayed Penny as a hero while prominent Democrats attended Neely’s funeral."

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STORY: "Daniel Penny is acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case over Jordan Neely's death," by Associated Press Reporter Jennifer  Pelts, published on December 9,  2024.

GIST: "A Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider was acquitted on Monday in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism.

A Manhattan jury delivered the verdict, clearing Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely’s death last year. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.

Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.

Penny, 26, gripped Jordan Neely around the neck for about six minutes in a chokehold that other subway passengers partially captured on video.

Penny’s lawyers said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. The defense also disputed a city medical examiner’s finding that the chokehold killed Neely.

Prosecutors said Penny reacted far too forcefully to someone he perceived as a peril, not a person.

The case amplified many American fault lines, among them race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was Black. Penny is white.

There were sometimes dueling demonstrations outside the courthouse, and high-profile Republican politicians portrayed Penny as a hero while prominent Democrats attended Neely’s funeral.

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.kmbc.com/article/daniel-penny-acquitted-nyc-subway-chokehold/63136036

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

  • SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

    https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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    FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
    Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
    Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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    FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!


    Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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