The prosecutor trying Daniel Penny is a hardline progressive who once bragged about getting a mugger who killed an 87 year-old off a murder charge.
Assistant Manhattan DA Dafna Yoran has asked jurors to convict the marine veteran of manslaughter over the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, despite previously pushing for 'restorative justice' for criminals.
In 2019, she asked for reduced punishment for Matthew Lee, 57, after he snuck up on former Lehman College professor Dr. Young Kun Kim, 87, and killed him over $300 with a fatal blow to the head.
The horrific incident was caught on video.
Yoran saw an opportunity in Lee's case to use the 'restorative justice' program introduced by former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr, as reported by Gothamist.
Lee was charged with manslaughter instead of felony murder after he agreed to meet with the victim's family and both parties consented to the outcome. This reduced his potential sentence from 25 years to life to 10 years. He will be eligible for parole in 2026.
'I had a murder case where the defendant did not intentionally kill the victim,' Yoran boasted during an online seminar.
'When I got the time I took the time to learn about he defendant.... I really felt incredibly sorry for him that he had gotten to that point in his life where he felt there was no choice but to commit this robbery.'
Assistant Manhattan DA Dafna Yoran has pushed for lenient sentences for criminals, but is asking for a maximum 15 years in prison for marine veteran Daniel Penny for the death of Jordan Neely on a NYC train
Yoran asked for reduced punishment for Matthew Lee, 57, after he snuck up on professor Dr. Young Kun Kim, 87, and killed him over $300
Dr Kim's family met with his killer and they agreed to a lesser charge of manslaughter instead of felony murder
But Yoran has taken a decidedly more hardline approach to 26-year-old Penny's case. She is asking for a potential sentence of 15 years - even though Penny too has always claimed he did not mean to kill Neely, but was acting after the homeless man made threats to other train passengers.
While she discussed Lee as a man who was desperate after falling on hard times, she has maintained a confrontational attitude towards Penny during his trial, with witnesses she has brought to the stand referring to him as 'the white man' and 'murderer.'
'He didn't recognize that Jordan Neely was a person,' Yoran told the jury of Penny. 'He saw him as a person that needed to be eliminated.'
Jurors are deliberating on the fate of Penny in a case that has sparked a national debate.
The anonymous jury is weighing manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in the death of 30-year-old Neely, a troubled street performer who was homeless. The veteran has maintained that his actions were justified.
Penny has said he was protecting fellow subway riders and intended only to restrain Neely and hold him for police, not to hurt him. Prosecutors say the Marine veteran used far too much force for too long when he gripped Neely by the neck for about six minutes.
The case has animated debate about public safety, societal responses to mental illness and homelessness, the line between self-defense and aggression, and the role of race in all of it.
In a reflection of the complexities of the closely watched case, the jury asked within the first 75 minutes of deliberations to rehear Judge Maxwell Wiley’s instructions on justification defenses and on the definitions of the crimes charged.
After the re-reading and 90 more minutes of deliberations, jurors headed home for the day Tuesday without reaching a verdict.
Yoran has taken a different approach to 26-year-old Penny's case, and is asking for a potential sentence of 15 years for the death of Neely
She has maintained a confrontational attitude towards Penny during his trial, referring to him as 'the white man' and 'murderer'
Witnesses said Neely boarded a train under Manhattan on May 1, 2023, started moving erratically, yelling about his hunger and thirst and proclaiming that he was ready to die, to go to jail or — as Penny and some other passengers recalled — to kill.
Penny came up behind Neely, grabbed his neck and head and took him to the floor. The veteran later told police he’d held Neely in 'a choke' and 'put him out' to ensure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
City medical examiners ruled that Neely was killed by having his neck compressed in a chokehold. A pathologist hired by Penny’s defense contradicted that finding, attributing the death to a variety of other factors.
Penny’s lawyers argued that he used what they term a 'civilian restraint,' departing from the chokehold technique he’d been taught in the military, in order to control Neely without rendering him unconscious. Prosecutors say Neely had the training to know that what he was doing could kill.
Wiley told jurors Tuesday that if they convict Penny of manslaughter, they won’t be asked for a verdict on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. If they decide he’s not guilty of manslaughter, they’ll consider the second charge.
Neely, 30, once was among the city's corps of subway and street performers and was known for his Michael Jackson impersonations. He had a lengthy criminal record and struggled with mental health issues
Manslaughter requires proving that a defendant recklessly caused another person’s death. The standard entails, among other things, consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that an action will be deadly.
Criminally negligent homicide, on the other hand, involves engaging in serious 'blameworthy conduct' while not perceiving such a risk.
Both charges are felonies. Neither carries mandatory prison time, but both carry the possibility of it — up to 15 years for manslaughter, or four for criminally negligent homicide.
Deliberations will resume Wednesday.
