Manslaughter charges against Daniel Penny dismissed following jury deadlock

On Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley in Manhattan—a borough of New York City, New York, United States—dismissed a manslaughter charge against Daniel Penny, an ex-Marine accused of choking Jordan Neely, a homeless man, to death. The jury must now decide on a charge of criminally negligent homicide. The decision was made at the behest of the prosecution, and was the result of the jury's failure to deliver a verdict in the case.

NBC News reported that the judge told the members of the jury to go home after they notified him that they were deadlocked. Jurors would now deliberate the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, the maximum penalty for which is four years in the state of New York. Penny could have faced up to fifteen years in prison if convicted of his prior charges.

Neely had died in an altercation with Penny on the floor of a passenger subway in Manhattan on May 1, 2023. Penny's defense team affirmed that the defendant had acted in self-defense, and that Neely had been actively threatening passengers on the train. The prosecution maintained that Penny had used too much force while subduing Neely, and had held him in a chokehold for far too long.

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