NEW YORK — Former Marine Daniel Penny, who positioned Jordan Neely in a lethal chokehold aboard a Manhattan subway practice final 12 months, misplaced his bid Wednesday to dismiss the costs towards him.
Manhattan Supreme Court docket Choose Maxwell Wiley denied Penny’s movement to dismiss in a listening to Wednesday morning. The choose mentioned he wanted extra time to resolve on one other protection movement to suppress search warrant proof.
Penny, who’s charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent murder, isn’t anticipated to to go to trial till a minimum of this fall.
A small group of protesters chased Penny as he acquired right into a automobile to go away the courthouse Wednesday, briefly blocking his automobile at one level as they shouted at him.
“Whereas we disagree with the Court docket’s choice to not dismiss the indictment, we perceive that the authorized threshold to proceed even an ill-conceived prosecution may be very low,” Kenny’s attorneys, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, mentioned in an announcement Wednesday. “We’re assured {that a} jury, conscious of Danny’s actions in placing apart his personal security to guard the lives of his fellow riders, will ship a simply verdict.”
Penny, who’s white, put Neely — a Black 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator with a historical past of psychological sickness and a number of arrests — right into a deadly chokehold on an uptown F practice on Could 1, 2023.
“This was a win at present, an enormous win,” mentioned Donte Mills, a lawyer for Neely’s father, Andre Zachary. “The choose mentioned Daniel Penny will face these costs. … It’s a win for Jordan’s household. It’s a win for the individuals who stood on that subway platform and stopped the trains from transferring (throughout a protest).”
When requested a couple of point out in court docket about assessments to find out if Neely had artificial marijuana in his system, Mills mentioned, “They’re searching for an excuse. I guarantee you Daniel Penny didn’t know what was in Jordan’s system when he determined to choke him to demise when Jordan was not preventing again.”
Zachary didn’t communicate to reporters Wednesday.
Chilling video reveals Penny, 24, protecting Neely in a chokehold for greater than two minutes as he slowly kicked his legs and at last stopped transferring, whereas two different males helped restrain him.
Neely entered the practice on the Second Ave. station ranting, “I don’t have meals, I don’t have a drink, I’m fed up… I don’t thoughts if I am going to jail and (get) life in jail … I’m able to die,” in line with freelance journalist and fellow straphanger Albert Vasquez. In line with police, Neely yelled and threw rubbish at commuters.
Penny is accused of developing behind him and placing him in a chokehold.
The NYPD’s choice to initially launch Penny after being questioned sparked a firestorm of criticism throughout the town and requires racial justice, and Neely’s demise highlighted the repeated failures of the town’s psychological well being companies.
In a recorded interview launched by his attorneys final 12 months, Penny mentioned he was “scared” and felt “intimidated” by Neely.
“I used to be praying that the police would come and take this case over. I didn’t wish to be put in that scenario, however I couldn’t simply sit nonetheless and let him perform these threats,” Penny mentioned in a video posted on the Regulation & Crime Community Youtube channel.
Penny is anticipated again in court docket March 20.
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