Jurors heard closing arguments Tuesday in the case of Daniel Penny, who has become a cause celebre for some of President-elect Donald Trump's closest allies.
Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, is charged in a New York state court with second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide. He is accused of fatally choking 30-year-old Jordan Neely on a New York City subway in 2023.
Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, boarded the subway and reportedly began threatening people. Penny allegedly approached him from behind and placed him in a chokehold. Neely was pronounced dead at a hospital. His death was ruled a homicide by compression of the neck.
Newsweek sought email comment from Penny's attorney on Tuesday.
Some prominent Republicans are calling for Penny's release.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who will head Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk, has donated $10,000 to Penny's defense fund. Ramaswamy said in a statement that he did so to "restore the rule of law in America."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also strongly backed Penny.
"Let's show this Marine...America's got his back," he said in an online statement.
Ramaswamy and DeSantis were both presidential candidates at the time they made their statements.
In a May 2023 article, progressive news site Mother Jones noted that Trump has stayed quiet on the Penny case, probably because he didn't want to alienate voters.
But now that he has been elected, Trump could be planning pardons, especially in the wake of President Joe Biden pardoning son Hunter, who had been convicted on firearms charges and pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges this year. He repeatedly said on the campaign trial that he will pardon Trump supporters jailed for the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
However, legal experts point out that the January 6 rioters were charged with federal crimes while presidents cannot pardon people for state crimes.
"The president's pardon power extends only to federal criminal liability," New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told Newsweek. "It has no bearing on...state criminal liability."
He said that for a state charge, "Trump could conceivably direct the Justice Department to appear as an amicus in state court." An amicus is an expert opinion that is typically submitted in court for one side of a legal dispute.
In this case, if Penny is convicted, an amicus brief by the Justice Department could help persuade a judge to give him a lighter sentence.
Prosecutors rested their case on Monday after the defense finished its cross-examination of Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed Neely's autopsy.
The state called 33 witnesses, including subway riders who witnessed the deadly incident, law enforcement and a Marine veteran who instructed Penny in martial arts.
.png)
English (US) ·