After days of deliberation, jurors were unable to deliver a verdict in the case against Daniel Penny.
Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed a charge of manslaughter against the 26-year-old on Friday after jurors repeatedly failed to reach a unanimous decision.
Penny's jury announced that they were deadlocked on Penny's manslaughter charge on Friday morning, after 16 hours of consideration. Wiley instructed them to return to deliberations as Penny's lawyers called for a mistrial. Three hours later, they declared that they were no closer to a decision.
Wiley tossed the manslaughter charge so that jurors could move on to considering a lesser charge of negligent homicide next week.
A manslaughter charge would have required the jury to find that Penny acted recklessly in causing Neely's death. The homicide charge they will deliberate over next week requires only that they find Penny engaged in "blameworthy conduct." Second-degree manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The maximum sentence for negligent homicide is four years.
Prosecutors claim Penny choked sometime street performer Jordan Neely to death on the New York City subway in May 2023. Witnesses said Neely was acting erratically in the moments leading up to his death but had not threatened anyone on the train. Prosecutors say Neely's actions crossed the line. Neely's attorneys maintain that he was acting in self-defense.
Penny holding Neely in a fatal chokehold was captured on video by bystanders. Penny told police at the time that he did not intend to hurt Neely.
“I wasn’t trying to injure him,” Penny said in an interview with police shared during the trial. “I’m just trying to keep him from hurting anybody else. He was threatening.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the dismissal of manslaughter charges against Penny.
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