NEW YORK – A judge has dismissed a second-degree manslaughter charge Daniel Penny Trial after the jury said twice on Friday that they could not vote unanimously on it.
The dismissal of the charge paves the way for the jury to decide on the lesser charge of negligent homicide, which carries a prison sentence of up to four years.
If convicted of manslaughter, Penny could have faced up to 15 years in prison. Now that that charge has been dismissed, that is no longer on the table.
On Friday morning, the jury informed the judge for the first time that they could not reach unanimity on the manslaughter charge. The judge ordered them to deliberate further. Around 3 p.m., the jury returned with a second note, stating that they still could not reach a unanimous decision.
The defense moved for a mistrial, but the judge granted the prosecution's request to dismiss the charges, clearing the way for the jury to decide on criminally negligent homicide.
The jury was then sent home for the day, returning on Monday.
Penny was initially charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide
Penny, 26, is charged the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway train last year. The Marine veteran pleaded not guilty Unpleasant manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
The judge instructed the jury at the start of deliberations that they had to agree on the manslaughter charge before they could even consider the second charge of negligent homicide. The jury was told all along that if they found Penny guilty of second-degree manslaughter, they wouldn't have to make a decision about the lesser sentence.
The deliberations last twenty hours
The jury has deliberated about 20 hours since their conversations began on Tuesday.
The jury sent various notesrequesting to review cell phone and police bodycam footage of the incident, as well as Penny's interview at the police station. They also wanted to hear back defense cross-examination of New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Cynthia Harriswho performed Neely's autopsy, and ruled his cause of death was neck compression.
Jurors also asked for some of the judge's instructions, as well as the legal definitions of “recklessness” and “negligence,” to be read back to them. They have also asked the judge for clarification on the concept of 'reasonable person'.
Prosecutors have argued that Penny's intentions were good to restrain Neely, but he kept him in a chokehold for too long. Penny's defense has argued that he did not apply pressure during the hold, but merely restrained Neely. Also a defense witness disagreed with the medical examiner's determination of cause of deatharguing that Neely died due to a combination of factors, including medications and sickle cell crisis.
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