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,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran began.
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.”