Daniel Penny jurors tell judge they can't agree on manslaughter charge

NEW YORK – Jurors in the strangled trial of Daniel Penny returned to deliberations for a fourth day Friday for just an hour before telling the court they could not reach an agreement on the main charge, manslaughter, as they assess the fate of a 26-year-old man. -a former Navy veteran and architecture student charged with the murder of a mentally ill homeless man who threatened to kill people on a Manhattan subway car.

Around 11 a.m., the jurors sent a note to the court stating: “We, the jury, request instructions from the judge [Maxwell] Wiley. At this time, we are unable to reach a unanimous vote on Court 1 – Second Degree Manslaughter. »

The prosecution demands that prosecutors prove that Penny acted recklessly when he grabbed Jordan Neely and strangled her. Neely had burst onto the train while high, threatening to kill passengers during a psychotic episode, according to trial testimony.

DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: JURORS ASKED TO REVIEW KEY EVIDENCE DURING DELIBERATIONS

Daniel Penny leaves the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on Thursday, December 5, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)

“In this case, I think they cannot proceed to Count 2 unless they find the defendant not guilty of Count 1,” Wiley told attorneys for both sides, despite protests from the accusation. “I have to at least try to get the jury to reach a verdict on count 1.”

The second charge is a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

He then discussed new instructions and gave lawyers time to review them.

Neely was a 30-year-old man with schizophrenia who told callers that someone was going to “die today” and that he didn't care if he was going to prison for life. Penny grabbed him from behind to choke him to stop the explosion.

Neely later died. He was the subject of an active arrest warrant at the time. He used K2, a synthetic marijuana drug that functions as a stimulant, and his lengthy criminal record included a 2021 assault on a 67-year-old woman at another subway station.

MANHATTAN DA’S MINIMIZATION OF DANIEL PENNY’S “IMPROPER AND MISLEADING” POTENTIAL SENTENCE: DEFENSE

Jordan Neely is photographed before going to see the Michael Jackson film, “This is It,” outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in Times Square, New York, in 2009. (Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Penny remained at the scene and spoke to responding officers. He also agreed to speak with NYPD detectives at the Fifth Precinct building.

“He spoke in gibberish (…) but these guys push people in front of trains and all that,” he told investigators. There were over 20 stampedes on the subway in the year before Penny met Neely.

Three days earlier, a hanger was stabbed with an ice pick on a J train, according to reports from the time. This was about a month after a PBS reporter had sucker hit on a number 4 train. There was a stampede a week before and the victim hit the side of a moving R train. and survived.

In this climate of fear, witnesses said they were terrified by Neely, who made death threats to them.

Screenshot from a video showing Jordan Neely being strangled on the New York subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez via Storyful)

Witness Ivette Rosario, a 19-year-old student, said Neely yelled that someone would “die that day.”

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Penny faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.