Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, was reportedly charged with criminally negligent homicide in the chokehold death of a homeless man aboard a New York City subway car last year.
A Manhattan judge on Friday requested that a deadlocked jury return next week to contemplate the charge.
In May 2023, Penny was accused with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in relation to the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old man.
Judge Maxwell Wiley was informed by the jury, which was composed of seven women and five men, on the fourth day of deliberations that it was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the second-degree manslaughter count.
Wiley advised the jury that it was required to attempt to reach a unanimous decision regarding the manslaughter allegation.
The jury sent a note to the judge after three additional hours of deliberations, indicating that it was still unable to do so.
Prosecutors subsequently informed Judge Wiley that they would be prepared to dismiss the manslaughter charge in order to allow the jury to consider negligent homicide.
The prosecution requested a mistrial.
Wiley had directed the jury to refrain from considering the second, less severe allegation of criminally negligent homicide until it had reached a unanimous decision on the first.
The judge received a plethora of notes from jurors earlier this week, requesting that the judge review the police and bystander video at the core of the case, as well as the testimony of Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Neely.
On the afternoon of May 1, 2023, Penny, an architecture student, encountered Neely on an uptown F train in Manhattan while en route to the gym.
Neely was reportedly behaving erratically after boarding the train, according to witnesses, prior to Penny securing him in a chokehold.
Neely was reported to have bellowed at other passengers, thrown his jacket to the ground, complained of hunger and thirst, and threatened to inflict harm on other passengers, according to certain witnesses.
In a video captured by a fellow passenger, Penny is depicted on the ground, constraining Neely with a chokehold, while two additional men are positioned above them.
Penny then releases Neely, who is observed lying inert on the train floor.
Neely was unresponsive when the police arrived, and first responders were unable to revive him. He was subsequently transported to a nearby hospital, where he was declared deceased.
Protests were initiated throughout the city as a result of the widespread dissemination of footage of the chokehold on the internet.
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