On Monday, a jury found Daniel Penny not guilty in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man experiencing a mental health crisis on a New York City subway. Penny, a former Marine, faced charges of criminally negligent homicide after a bystander’s video of the incident sparked national protests and calls for justice.
The jury deliberated for five days, deciding Penny’s actions were not reckless under the law. The verdict brought mixed reactions inside and outside the courtroom.
Neely’s family called it a failure of accountability. His uncle, Christopher Neely, said he felt like “the jury gave up on us.”
Protesters erupted outside, chanting against what they saw as a normalization of vigilantism. Rev. Al Sharpton likened the case to the 1984 Bernhard Goetz subway shooting, calling the verdict a dangerous precedent that signals violence against marginalized people can go unchecked.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
