Potential jurors questioned in trial of man who strangled New York subway beggar

NEW YORK – Jurors began answering questions about their backgrounds and possible biases Friday in the trial of a white U.S. Marine Corps veteran accused of killing a troubled black man on a subway train last year.

After days of pre-selection to excuse people who couldn’t serve due to work or family duties, this next round of questioning aims to choose the Manhattanites who will decide the manslaughter case against 25-year-old Daniel Penny .

He strangled Jordan Neely and, according to medical examiners, killed him. Prosecutors say Penny’s action was reckless and unjustified. His attorneys have said he was only trying to subdue Neely, who was behaving erratically and making comments that Penny and some witnesses recalled as threatening.

On Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley began asking potential jurors standard questions, such as their neighborhood and line of work, but also whether they or anyone close to them has been in the military, has experience in martial arts or fighting. free, or have tried drugs. addiction or homelessness. They were also asked how often they use the subway and whether they have witnessed any explosions there.

The case has become a melting pot of opinion about public safety, mental illness, the line between intervening and vigilantism, and the role of race in how people perceive all of this.

Some protesters have demonstrated to denounce Penny, others to defend him. Some prominent Democratic officials attended Neely’s funeral, while high-profile Republican politicians portrayed Penny as a hero who stood up to Neely to protect others. Penny’s legal defense fund has raised millions of dollars.

Neely, 30, was once familiar to some subway riders for his Michael Jackson impressions. But relatives have said she struggled with mental health issues after her mother was murdered and found stuffed in a suitcase in 2007, and she testified at her boyfriend’s murder trial five years later.

Over the years, Neely became homeless and developed a history of drug use, disruptive behavior and arrests, including a guilty plea to assaulting a stranger in 2021.

On May 1, 2023, Neely boarded a subway and began yelling and acting erratically, witnesses said.

Some would later tell police, in comments recorded on officers’ body cameras, that bikers became scared when he made sudden movements and said he was ready to die or go to jail. But at least one passenger described Neely’s behavior as “like another day, typically, in New York,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

Penny, for her part, told officers that Neely said, “I’m going to kill everyone,” according to police video played in court. Concerned that Neely posed a real threat, Penny said he approached the man from behind and put his arm around his neck and throat.

With two other riders helping to pin Neely to the ground, the Marine veteran held him by the neck for more than three minutes, until his body went limp.

“I pulled it out,” Penny told an officer at the scene. He later told detectives in an interview that he was “just trying to de-escalate,” not hurt or kill Neely.

City medical examiners determined that Neely died from neck compression.

Neely’s family and supporters have said he was only asking for help, not threatening anyone.

Donte Mills, an attorney for Neely’s father, has summarized the case this way: “Someone got on the train and was screaming, and someone strangled him to death.”

“Those things will never balance out, and there’s no justification that can make them balance out,” Mills said outside court Monday.

Penny’s lawyers have indicated that they plan to argue that Penny was not applying pressure in a way that could have killed Neely, and that his death could have been caused by other factors, including use of the synthetic cannabinoid known as K2.

When the first group of potential jurors came to court Monday for pre-screening, nearly all of them raised their hands when asked if they had heard of the case.

“Even if you have formed an opinion about it, that does not disqualify you from participating in this case,” Judge Maxwell Wiley told them, but he reminded them that jurors must be open to the possibility that the evidence will change their views. .

It is unclear how long it will take to select the jurors, whose names will not be made public.