Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who fatally choked New York subway rider Jordan Neely, turned himself in Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who fatally choked New York subway rider Jordan Neely, turned himself in Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.
Inside the courtroom, Penny faced straight ahead, his hands still cuffed. He spoke softly, offering one-word answers to Judge Kevin McGrath as his lawyer, Steve Raiser, placed an arm around his shoulder. Thomas Kenniff, one of Penny’s attorneys, said the veteran didn’t mean to harm Neely and “is dealing with the situation, like I said, with the sort of integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is and characteristic of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps.”“There was no attack,” Mills said at a news conference Friday. “Mr. Neely did not attack anyone. He did not touch anyone. He did not hit anyone. But he was choked to death.
“No one on that train asked Jordan: ‘What’s wrong, how can I help you?’” Mills said, urging New Yorkers in a similar situation: “Don’t attack. Don’t choke. Don’t kill. Don’t take someone’s life. Don’t take someone’s loved one from them because they’re in a bad place.”