Alvin Bragg's Underlings Accuse Daniel Penny's Defense Attorneys of Racially Motivated Jury Selection

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...ry-selected-n2646871

Prosecutors from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office accused Daniel Penny's defense attorneys of racism during the jury selection process, which finally concluded almost two full weeks into the high-profile New York trial.

"The defense has been striking people based on their race," assistant district attorney Dafna Yoran, who's prosecuting Penny on behalf of Bragg, claimed in the Manhattan courtroom Wednesday morning.

Bragg's underling insisted that the defense had used eight out of their nine no-questions-asked strikes to dismiss "people of color." Yoran counted "five blacks, two Hispanics, and one Asian" among the potential jurors asked to be stricken by the defense.

To which, Penny's lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, called the accusation "outrageous," considering that one of the jurors selected is a black male.

According to ABC7 New York, Yoran then filed a particular motion called a Batson challenge alleging that the defense used their peremptory strikes on the basis of race. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Batson v. Kentucky ruled that using peremptory challenges to exclude jurors solely on their race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Judge Maxwell Wiley, who's presiding over the proceedings, directed the defense to individually explain their reasons for the excusal requests and offer "racially neutral explanations."

Among the defense's dismissals, one of the prospective jurors was a black woman with purple hair. "She can have whatever hair she wants, but it's outside the mainstream appearance," Kenniff said, noting: "I believe she gave answers that were inconsistent." The main cause for concern was not her hair color, he continued; it was the fact that she struggled with homelessness, putting her in a position to "sympathize with the victim." Her views on crime on the subways were "not favorable to us," Kenniff added.

Another prospect was a self-described "weed connoisseur." Yoran suggested that the defense sought his dismissal because he smokes marijuana. Kenniff said it was rather because his education was on the "lower end of the scale."

For others, the defense cited a familial history of mental health issues and substance abuse or that the jury candidates were consuming news from "certain periodicals" with "far-left political affiliations," such as The New York Times. Kenniff argued that "an individual who follows those types of news sources would be less favorable for us."

Yoran retorted that "virtually every juror reads The New York Times." There were also white jurors who had given "similar answers," she said. "They really are digging to find reasons why it is they are striking these people of color."

After listening to both arguments, Wiley ultimately accepted the defense's reasoning, allowing the strikes to stand, and resumed juror questioning.

Later on, Yoran still tried to claim that the defense's picks were racially motivated. "If you look at the entirety of their behavior, race is playing a huge part of it," she said.

Jordan Neely was a black homeless man threatening to kill other passengers, including women and children, trapped on the train with him on board a New York City subway car in May 2023. Penny, a white U.S. Marine Corps veteran, had stepped in to subdue Neely and held him in a chokehold for several minutes. Neely died at a hospital hours later, and Penny was subsequently charged with manslaughter as well as criminally negligent homicide. Since Neely's death, the Black Lives Matter lobby has been likening him to George Floyd.

"I believe that Jordan was killed because Jordan was a black man. I do not think that Daniel Penny would have killed a white man," BLM Greater New York co-founder Hawk Newsome told reporters outside the courthouse.

Neely's uncle, Christopher Neely, said in a statement to The New York Sun that "If Hawk was to choke Daniel Penny, it would be totally different. The best advice his lawyer would give him, no matter if it's a paid lawyer or a legal aid lawyer, is to plead guilty [...] And the best advice that Danny Penny's lawyer could do, or his father could do, is to just plead guilty. Don't put the family through this trial knowing what you did was not right in its totality."

The 12-person jury — reportedly comprised of eight white people and four minorities — was finally seated Wednesday after much-heated debate between the prosecution and the defense. The fact-finding body includes a software engineer, a healthcare worker, a corporate lawyer, and a paralegal whose father served in the Israeli military and who rides the subway five days a week, according to The New York Sun.

"We are very pleased with the diverse make-up of the jury, consisting of men and women of all different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities," Kenniff told The New York Sun over email. "The prosecutor's suggestion that the defense considered race in the selection process is both reckless and belied by the diverse makeup of the seated jurors."

Christopher Neely and Newsome were not happy with the jury selected.

"This is what happens when a black person is lynched," Newsome remarked. "The defense comes together to make it seem it's the black person's fault." He added that "everything that we said about race was confirmed today."

During voir dire, the jurors were asked about their background and experiences, specifically on the subway, to determine if they could judge the case fairly and impartially. The defense's best bet was assembling a jury of subway riders for an accurate reflection of Penny's peers, as opposed to people who rarely ride the rails.

One woman said she couldn't be impartial because she believes "people should step in when they see a woman getting harassed." The woman told the court, "I've been stepped on, sat on, grinded up against, pushed — it's all just part of taking the subway."

The majority of jurors now sworn in said they'd witnessed first-hand someone acting erratically while they were riding the New York City subway. Three of them are commuters who have been harassed before on the transit system and nine are New Yorkers who'd seen outbursts on the subway, The New York Post reports. One woman who was chosen recalled a man once yelling and swearing at her aboard a train car. "I think there are particular instances where force can be used," she said of such disturbances.

The panel of seven women and five men will decide whether Penny is found guilty or not guilty of killing Neely on the crowded train that day.

Opening statements are scheduled to start Friday. Prosecutors are expected to argue that Penny continued the chokehold, which lasted approximately six minutes, long past the point when Neely posed any threat. The state does not have to prove Penny intended to kill Neely, just that he acted recklessly when restraining him.

Meanwhile, Bragg's office is trying to control what witnesses can say about Penny.

Prosecutors asked the judge overseeing Penny's trial to not let witnesses call him a "good Samaritan" or a "hero" in court.

Yoran said the Democrat DA's team was worried that the defense might try to prompt witnesses to assess whether Penny's actions that day were warranted. She asserted that witnesses shouldn't be allowed to use the terms "good Samaritan" and "hero" to describe Penny, saying that that's subjective phrasing based on one's opinion.

"A witness's characterization of the defendant [as] a hero, for example, is the equivalent of a determination that the [defendant] was justified," Yoran argued. Rather, it should be up to the jury to decide whether Penny was in the right — not the witnesses testifying about the facts, she said.

In response, Kenniff said that the witnesses who rode the subway with Penny were the ones using those words. Accordingly, their account of what happened should be heard by the jury, Kenniff countered.

"It describes what they perceived: Neely acting as the aggressor, and Mr. Penny acting to defend and protect," he replied.

On the first day of Penny's trial, Black Lives Matter activists heckled him on his way into the courthouse, calling him a "murderer."

Sporting "Malcolm X" merch, some of the "Justice for Jordan Neely" protestors held signs that accused Penny of "Racist Vigilantism" and "White Supremacist Violence." One poster demanded that the jury "Convict Daniel Penny" for "This Modern Lynching."

Newsome, shouting into a megaphone, said the case is racially charged. "This is a race thing!" he declared.

All this is, is legal gamesmanship and grandstanding. Both sides play it, and it is nothing new or surprising.

I disagree with the statement by Hawk Newsome where he claims that Jordan was killed because he was black. I think Penny took action because he saw a threat and not race.

Poor guy is doomed.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
Poor guy is doomed.

I don't think so.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
Poor guy is doomed.

That's what they said about Bernie Getz.

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
Poor guy is doomed.

I don't think so.

Neither do I. Get a few subway riders on that jury who are fed up with the shit in the city, and he should walk.

The fact that he is even having to go to trial over this is an absolute travesty.

The problems with this trial could be rectified with about 20 feet of properly knotted hemp rope and a stout tree limb, and it's not for Daniel Penny.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The problems with this trial could be rectified with about 20 feet of properly knotted hemp rope and a stout tree limb, and it's not for Daniel Penny.

Might I suggest Alvin Bragg?

My solution is 173-grains; less expensive than quality rope and more easily distributed.

Now that I am considered “garbage” by the drooling imbecile theoretically running my country, I feel less constrained.

In a normal world & place, couldn’t see him getting convicted. Since this is NYC, most anything is possible.

I thought there was a person of color helping him subdue the offender? I haven’t seen that person of color charged with anything? Didn’t all the cops at the Floyd fiasco get charged, even if not directly involved??

Seems we have a disparity of justice?

Daniel Penny trial live updates: Opening arguments begin in subway chokehold death case

https://nypost.com/2024/11/01/...-live-updates-nov-1/

The Manhattan trial of Daniel Penny is underway with opening arguments Friday in the manslaughter case against Penny, who put Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold after the homeless man made threats on a crowded subway car in 2023.

Lawyers for Penny, 26, a Long Island native who served in the Marine Corps, told jurors Friday that “there was only one thing that Daniel Penny could do” as a disturbed Neely ranted and raved on board the train, terrifying straphangers and saying, “I will kill.”

Prosecutors maintained that the chokehold was “unnecessary,” telling the jury Penny “went too far,” and kept Neely in the chokehold even after the troubled man lost consciousness.

Homeless man still had a pulse after chokehold that prosecutors say killed him

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...rial-nyc-subway.html

Police detected a pulse on homeless man Jordan Neely after he was put in a chokehold by Marine veteran Daniel Penny, bombshell new bodycam footage reveals.

The video became public today as Penny's manslaughter trial began in Manhattan.

During opening statements today, bodycam footage of the moment cops found Neely was shown.

NYPD officers arrived on the train at Fulton Station at 2.33pm.

Two police officers confirmed that Neely still had a pulse when they arrived.

'I got a pulse,' one said. A second police officer confirmed that he too felt a pulse.

Neely was unconscious, lying on the subway car floor.

When asked how Neely ended up there, Penny replied: 'I put him out.'

Despite initially detecting a pulse, they issued Narcan - the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses - to Neely - and started CPR at 2.38pm.

Paramedics from Northwell Health arrived on the train at 2.48pm - 15 minutes after the police.

At 3.13pm - almost 45 minutes after police first arrived - Neely was still on the train, by then surrounded by paramedics. The bodycam released by the court today ends then.

He was not pronounced dead until he arrived at Lenox Health Hospital in Greenwich Village later that afternoon.

Among witnesses on the first day of evidence was an NYPD Sergeant who testified that none of his team performed mouth-to-mouth on Neely because he was a 'drug user'.

'He seemed to be a drug user.. he was an apparent drug user. He was very dirty. I didn’t want them to get… hepatitis.

'If he did wake up he would have been vomiting. I didn’t want my officers to do that,' he said.

In opening statements, Manhattan prosecutors said: 'Jordan Neely took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train. He was 30 years old, homeless, mentally ill.

'He quite literally, went for the jugular,' Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran said.

The prosecution accepted that Neely had been 'menacing' passengers on the train.

But she said the entire exchange, from the time Neely got on the train, to the time the doors opened at the next station, lasted just 30 seconds.

It was Penny’s choice to keep Neely restrained for a further five minutes and 53 seconds that formed the basis of the state’s case.

‘He, quite literally, went immediately for the jugular,’ she said.

‘We pass people like Jordan Neely every day. As New Yorkers, we train ourselves not to engage, not to make eye contact, to pretend people like Jordan Neely don’t exist.

Yoran told jurors that another man who helped to get Neely to the ground repeatedly told Penny that he could let go because he had a strong grip of his arms.

‘The defendant has specialized training in chokeholds. A person passes out and you have to immediately let go… a green belt Marine is taught, and clearly knows.

‘He pushed Mr Neely to the point of no return, certain to die. When he did let go, he left Neely on the floor and didn’t look back. He picked up his hat, dusted himself off, and stood over his body.’

Yoran said Penny’s defense that he was acting to protect other, vulnerable passengers on the train can’t be considered beyond the point that all the passengers had fled the train.

‘[The level of force] may have been reasonable initially, [Neely’s behavior] would justify an initial use of force. But at the point that Penny killed Mr Neely, there was no one to protect. At that point there was no excuse or justification for the deadly use of physical force.’

While the state intends to argue that Penny never let up the initial pressure he placed on Neely’s neck, the defense insists he made several attempts to loosen his grip, and that only had a light hold on Neely by the time he stopped fighting back.

‘This struggle did last five to six minutes. But Danny was not, and could not, have been squeezing his neck. We know that because if he was, Neely would have passed out in the first minute,’ Kenniff said.

Opening statements began on Friday after a grueling two-week process of selecting the 12-person jury.

An initial search was conducted of Neely’s body and jacket, which was nearby.

No weapons were found, and the only possession he had at the time was a muffin stuffed into his jacket pocket.

Police initially felt a faint pulse, and a shot of Narcan was administered.

Once the pulse disappeared, officers began performing CPR, and then issued another shot of Narcan.

At no point did Neely regain consciousness.

Kenniff argued that Penny had only intended to intervene until police could come and take over.

‘Something that took way longer than expected,’ he said.

From the time police received the dispatch call, it took seven minutes for first responders to arrive.

It was then another 10 minutes before emergency services arrived with a defibrillator and more resources.

‘Danny was desperately waiting for police to show up and help him the way he had helped other passengers on this train,’ Kenniff said.

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks, and will call upon medical experts, first responders, and other passengers who were on the train that day.

quote:

The 12-person jury — reportedly comprised of eight white people and four minorities
....
The fact-finding body includes a software engineer, a healthcare worker, a corporate lawyer, and a paralegal whose father served in the Israeli military and who rides the subway five days a week, according to The New York Sun.
....
Christopher Neely and Newsome were not happy with the jury selected.

"This is what happens when a black person is lynched," Newsome remarked. "The defense comes together to make it seem it's the black person's fault." He added that "everything that we said about race was confirmed today."

During voir dire, the jurors were asked about their background and experiences, specifically on the subway, to determine if they could judge the case fairly and impartially. The defense's best bet was assembling a jury of subway riders for an accurate reflection of Penny's peers, as opposed to people who rarely ride the rails.

Pretty much sums up the state we're in...at least in inner cities. One side is arguing that the Defendant did what was necessary because riding the subway has required riders to be 'on-guard' and cautious of unpredictable if not violent behavior; the jury was selected based upon their frequency of subway usage. The other side is throwing racism against the wall and seeing if it sticks.

Unreal. The case should be thrown out right now. Today.

https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/st.../1852505946972377543

It's a travesty of justice what they're doing to this kid. Even if he wins, imagine the stress and expense that he's incurred. His life will never be the same. All for doing the right thing and defending innocent people from a violent cracked out lunatic who was trying to rob people. They should be giving him a medal. He definitely did more to make the subways in NYC safe than the city has done

^^^^^. Couldn't agree more. But, if I had to guess, I'd bet he's toast.

Why in God's name does the 14th amendment guarantee of equal protection apply to jury selection? Prospective jurors do not need protection, they are not on trial and whether or not they serve on the jury is not a right, but an obligation of chosen.

Defense can strike whomever the want on the "no questions" strikes. No questions means no questions, doesn't it?

Because 60-70 years ago, the Klan held the South in bondage, through terror.

Its BS now, but it’s the same reason why “criminal mischief, at night,” is specifically laid out as a grounds for lethal force in the TXCON.

Daniel Penny labeled ‘the white man’ by prosecutor at racially charged manslaughter trial

https://nypost.com/2024/11/04/...ially-charged-trial/

On day two of his manslaughter case, Daniel Penny ceased having a name.

He became merely “the white man.”

During the prosecution’s opening statements on Friday, they asked why Penny, 26, did “not see Mr. Neely’s humanity.”

On Monday, the Marine Corps veteran — facing 15 years for the subway chokehold that killed mentally ill homeless man Jordan Neely — was reduced by the same prosecution to his race and sex.

Over and over.

This started when 19-year-old Ivette Rosario, a bystander on the train that day, was called to the stand. Rosario, appearing visibly shy and nervous, captured a short, shaky video of Penny holding Neely in a chokehold on the uptown F train.

It became clear that Rosario, whose voice at times, was barely audible, did not know Penny’s name so she referred to him as “the white guy.”

But she was not corrected by Assistant DA Jillian Shartrand, nor did the lawyer inform Rosario of the defendant’s name. Instead, Shartrand adopted it as her own, calling him “the white man.”

Shartrand continued to question Rosario, referring to the defendant as such, more than a half a dozen times. It was jarring to hear it repeated so casually.

Given the racial undertones of the case, with BLM protesters hurling accusations of Penny being a “racist vigilante,” it felt doubly reckless. Even if it wasn’t wholly malicious.

In fact, when Penny’s defense attorney, Thomas Kenniff, got up to cross examine Rosario, his client’s name was the first order of business. He clarified that “the white man” was indeed his client and kindly agreed with Rosario that they’d refer to him as “Danny” and Neely as “Jordan.”

So was the fear Rosario, a regular subway rider, felt on May 1 2023. The Bronx resident testified she, like most New Yorkers, has seen her share of underground nonsense and “situations,” she said, pointedly adding: “But not like that,” of Neely’s outburst when he boarded the train at 2 Avenue. According to witnesses Neely said “someone is going to die today” and he was “ready to go to Rikers” prison.

And on that short but harrowing ride, she was so nervous, that she testified how she buried her head in her friend’s chest and thought she might pass out.

“I got scared by the tone. It was an angry tone,” she said of Neely’s voice and threats of violence.

More at link