Daniel Penny’s defense team rested its case on Friday without the defendant taking the stand.
Penny chose not to testify in his own defense, which would have subjected him to cross-examination from a prosecution that referred to him as “the white man” and claimed race was a factor in his decision to put Jordan Neely in a chokehold.
Daniel Kenniff, one of Penny’s defense attorneys, said after court adjourned on Friday that jurors did hear from Penny – through his recorded statements to police, the Associated Press reported.
“Virtually everything he said then is consistent with credible testimony of his fellow passengers,” Kenniff said, according to the outlet.
Penny’s first interrogation with police – during which he was not told that Neely had died – showed him telling detectives that he never wanted to hurt Neely and was just trying to keep him from harming other passengers.
“Some guy came in, and he’s like with his jacket off and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna kill everybody. I’m gonna go to prison forever. I don’t care,’” Penny told detectives in the video played in court.
Penny then tells the detectives that he asked the person next to him to hold his phone, and he removed his earbuds before getting behind Neely and placing him in the hold.
“I just kind of, like, grabbed him from behind,” Penny said.
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
“Because he was acting like a lunatic, like a crazy person,” he continued. “So, and he was rolling around the floor. And at that point, the train stopped. I was like, ‘Someone call the cops,’ and he’s still, like rolling around, still going crazy. I had two other guys kind of help me just kind of keep him from going nuts. And yeah, that’s when you guys came.”
Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter or up to 4 years if he’s convicted on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The defense has been aided in its case by numerous witnesses who all said they feared for their lives as Neely threatened them in a subway car in May of last year. Those witnesses were called by the prosecution, which made the New York Post editorial board ask the question: What was Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thinking in pursuing this case.
Penny’s defense also brought in a forensic pathologist to dispute the medical examiner’s findings that Neely died as a result of Penny’s chokehold, The Daily Wire previously reported. Dr. Satish Chundru, who reviewed thousands of pages of Neely’s medical records, said that “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana,” caused Neely’s death, not Penny’s chokehold.
Closing arguments are set to begin on December 2.
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[[{“value”:”
Daniel Penny’s defense team rested its case on Friday without the defendant taking the stand.
Penny chose not to testify in his own defense, which would have subjected him to cross-examination from a prosecution that referred to him as “the white man” and claimed race was a factor in his decision to put Jordan Neely in a chokehold.
Daniel Kenniff, one of Penny’s defense attorneys, said after court adjourned on Friday that jurors did hear from Penny – through his recorded statements to police, the Associated Press reported.
“Virtually everything he said then is consistent with credible testimony of his fellow passengers,” Kenniff said, according to the outlet.
Penny’s first interrogation with police – during which he was not told that Neely had died – showed him telling detectives that he never wanted to hurt Neely and was just trying to keep him from harming other passengers.
“Some guy came in, and he’s like with his jacket off and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna kill everybody. I’m gonna go to prison forever. I don’t care,’” Penny told detectives in the video played in court.
Penny then tells the detectives that he asked the person next to him to hold his phone, and he removed his earbuds before getting behind Neely and placing him in the hold.
“I just kind of, like, grabbed him from behind,” Penny said.
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
“Because he was acting like a lunatic, like a crazy person,” he continued. “So, and he was rolling around the floor. And at that point, the train stopped. I was like, ‘Someone call the cops,’ and he’s still, like rolling around, still going crazy. I had two other guys kind of help me just kind of keep him from going nuts. And yeah, that’s when you guys came.”
Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter or up to 4 years if he’s convicted on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The defense has been aided in its case by numerous witnesses who all said they feared for their lives as Neely threatened them in a subway car in May of last year. Those witnesses were called by the prosecution, which made the New York Post editorial board ask the question: What was Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thinking in pursuing this case.
Penny’s defense also brought in a forensic pathologist to dispute the medical examiner’s findings that Neely died as a result of Penny’s chokehold, The Daily Wire previously reported. Dr. Satish Chundru, who reviewed thousands of pages of Neely’s medical records, said that “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana,” caused Neely’s death, not Penny’s chokehold.
Closing arguments are set to begin on December 2.
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