Subway Killer Indicted

Daniel Penny, the man who choked a homeless man to death on the subway, has been indicted for mansluaghter.

This guy choked Jordan Neeley for 15 minutes.

By comparison, Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.  (The commonly used 8:46 number was from the original charging document against Chauvin and was revised) 

I am not sanguine on the possibility of a conviction, but I never expected Chauvin to be convicted.

Certainly, manslaughter is not as heavy a lift, as murder 2 in the case of Chauvin, but I am not an optimist.

A grand jury on Wednesday voted to indict a Marine veteran who was arrested last month after killing a homeless man on a subway car in a case that created a political firestorm in New York City and beyond, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The case against the veteran, Daniel Penny, was brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which had charged Mr. Penny with manslaughter in the death of the homeless man, Jordan Neely, but needed the grand jury’s approval to proceed with the case.

………

Mr. Penny and Mr. Neely encountered each other on an F train on May 1. Witnesses told the police that Mr. Neely, who had a history of mental illness, had been shouting at passengers and using threatening language, but there was no indication that he had physically attacked anyone. Mr. Penny, apparently seeking to restrain Mr. Neely, placed him in a chokehold, killing him. The city medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide two days later. (That ruling determines that Mr. Penny killed Mr. Neely but is not a finding of criminal culpability.)

You know what they say about prosecutors and ham sandwiches.

A conviction is less likely.

• The trial promises to be a complete sh%$ show, because it has become a cause celebre for the right wing, because:
• The right wing believes that the it is the inalienable right of a white man to murder a black man who makes them uncomfortable.
• New York County prosecutor Allen Bragg is already being targeted by the right wing for his indictment of Donald Trump.
• The juxtaposition of race and violence on the subway has been a hot button issue in New York City since long before Bernhard Goetz shot 4 black teens on the subway in 1984.

I'm expecting a not guilty verdict, or a plea deal with no jail time, but I would be happy to be wrong.