A Manhattan grand jury has begun to hear evidence in the case against Daniel Penny, the former Marine charged with manslaughter for fatally choking Jordan Neely on the subway last month, according to reports on Thursday.
The grand jury was impaneled by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as prosecutors attempt to secure an indictment on the second-degree manslaughter charge against Penny, 24, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
A grand jury could hand up additional charges.
The manslaughter rap carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Penny surrendered to cops to face the charge May 12 — more than 10 days after he placed Neely, a 30-year-old disturbed homeless man, in a lethal chokehold on an F train in lower Manhattan. He is out on $100,000 bail.
Penny’s lawyers have said he feared for his safety during the May 1 encounter and “stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers.” In an exclusive sit-down with The Post last month, Penny suggested he would act the same way again if he faced a similar situation.
Bystander video showed Penny holding Neely in the chokehold after, according to witnesses, the homeless man was acting erratic and threatening passengers.
Neely, a former street performer, had a long history of psychosis and fell through the cracks of the city’s mental health system.
Who was Neely?
Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless man, was strangled aboard a northbound F train just before 2:30 p.m. May 1, according to police.
He reportedly started acting erratically on the train and harassing other passengers before being restrained and ultimately choked by a straphanger, identified as Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former Marine from Queens.
Penny, who was seen on video applying the chokehold, was taken into custody and later released. He was eventually charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Why is there fallout over Neely’s death?
The city medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, noting he died due to “compression of neck (chokehold).”
Neely’s aunt told The Post that he became a “complete mess” following the brutal murder of his mother in 2007. She noted he was schizophrenic and suffered from PTSD and depression.
“The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system,” Carolyn Neely said.
Who is Penny?
24-year-old former Marine Daniel Penny served as an infantry squad leader and an instructor in water survival while in the Marines Corps from 2017 to 2021, according to his online resume. Penny graduated from high school in West Islip, NY.
He surrendered to authorities 11 days after he placed Neely in a fatal chokehold on an F train.
His family has blamed authorities for not ensuring he received the care needed for him to recover — and called on Penny to face murder charges.