Politics
Most Serious Charge Dismissed in Subway Trial; Lesser Charge Remains
Jurors in the Daniel Penny trial in Manhattan deadlocked on Friday. Next week they will begin deliberating a lesser charge against him in the death last year of Jordan Neely.
The Manhattan judge overseeing the case of a man accused in the choking death of amentally ill subway passenger last year dismissed the most serious charge against him on Friday afternoon, leaving jurors to consider a lesser charge when they return to court next week.
The jurors on Friday deadlocked over whether the man, Daniel Penny, was guilty of manslaughter, leaving unresolved a case that has come to exemplify New York’s post-pandemic struggles. They will now consider whether he should be convicted of criminally negligent homicide, a charge that carries a lesser prison sentence.
After nearly three days of deliberations, the jurors sent two notes — one on Friday morning and a second during the afternoon — to the judge, Maxwell T. Wiley, saying that they could not come to a unanimous decision about whether Mr. Penny was guilty of manslaughter in the second degree.
After the jurors sent the first note, Justice Wiley responded by reading them a so-called Allen charge, official instructions for the jurors to resume their deliberations, with the goal of reaching an agreement through the reconsideration of differing opinions.
“It’s not uncommon for juries to believe they will never be able to reach a unanimous decision,” he said, adding: “I’ll ask you to continue deliberations on that count.”
Following Justice Wiley’s instructions, the panel of seven women and five men returned to their sequestered room to discuss further. However, after about three hours, they sent another note, saying: “After further deliberations, we cannot come to a unanimous decision on count one, manslaughter in the second degree.”
