Judge dismisses manslaughter charge in Daniel Penny trial after jury deadlock
The judge overseeing the trial of Daniel Penny, the man accused of using a deadly chokehold on Jordan Neely last year on a New York City subway, dismissed a manslaughter charge in the case Friday after jurors said they were deadlocked.
The judge overseeing the trial of Daniel Penny, the man accused of using a deadly chokehold on Jordan Neely last year on a New York City subway, dismissed a manslaughter charge in the case Friday after jurors said they were deadlocked.
The decision, which came at the request of prosecutors, means the anonymous jury will consider only the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. It carries a maximum sentence of up to four years. Jurors were not told that prosecutors made the request. Penny has pleaded not guilty.
“You are now free to consider count two,” Judge Maxwell Wiley told jurors. “Whether that makes any difference or not, I have no idea.”
The jurors — seven women and five men — will resume deliberations Monday. They twice sent a note to the judge Friday — one in the morning and another in the afternoon — saying they could not come to a unanimous decision on the top charge of manslaughter in the second degree. After the first note, Wiley read jurors what is known as an Allen charge, official instructions to continue deliberating “with an open mind” to reach a unanimous verdict.
Before deliberations began Tuesday afternoon, Wiley told the jury that it must come to a unanimous decision on the manslaughter charge before it would be allowed to consider criminally negligent homicide. They were also instructed to decide whether Penny’s actions caused Neely’s death and, if so, whether he had acted recklessly and in an unjustified manner.
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