Grand jury indicts former Marine Daniel Penny over NYC subway chokehold incident

A grand jury on Wednesday indicted former Marine Daniel Penny who was arrested for killing Jordan Neely with a chokehold on the New York City subway last month. 

The exact charges will not be unsealed until Penny appears in court on a later day, according to sources. However, he is facing one charge of second-degree murder and another of criminally negligent homicide.

He faces up to 15 years in prison for the former and four years for the latter.  

On May 1, Penny, 24 was traveling onboard a northbound F train when 30-year-old Jordan Neely started behaving erratically and “threatening passengers.”

Penny tried to quell the situation by placing the man in a headlock. By the time police arrived at the scene, Neely was unconscious. He passed away on his way to the hospital, authorities said. The incident was caught on video and posted on social media. 

Penny was taken into custody for questioning after the incident but was released without being charged. However, the city’s medical examiner ruled that Neely died of “compression of neck (chokehold)” and declared that his death was a homicide. 

Prosecutors investigated the incident before moving forward with a federal charge, however, eventually, he was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Penny turned himself into police on May 12 but was released on bail.

At the time of his death, Neely was homeless and had a long history of mental disorders. He was a Michael Jackson impersonator who had been arrested more than 42 times on charges including theft, assault, and fare evasion. 

Attorneys for Neely's family said in a statement the "indictment is the right result for the wrong he committed."

"Daniel Penny did not have the right to be the judge, jury, and executioner," the statement added. 

Penny’s attorneys, on the other hand, said in a statement on Wednesday that they were “confident that when a trial jury is tasked with weighing the evidence, they will find Daniel Penny's actions on that train were fully justified.”