Breaking Update: Daniel Penny Leaves Courthouse With Dropped Manslaughter Charge, Still Faces one for Negligence
Breaking update: The judge in the Daniel Perry trial has dropped the manslaughter charge, and has instructed the jury to come back on Monday so they can decide whether he will be charged with criminal negligence. Penny remains in a precarious position — he’s still facing years in prison should he be convicted.
See our earlier report below:
The Daniel Penny trial has taken yet another major turn as the jury revealed on Friday that it still could not come up with a unanimous decision on the manslaughter charge.
The announcement comes after the jury wrote a note to the court Friday morning stating that an agreement was not being reached.
“We the jury request instructions from Judge [Maxwell] Wiley. At this time, we are unable to come to a unanimous vote on count 1 – manslaughter in the second degree,” the note read, per Fox News.
Wiley then urged the jury to continue deliberating until they reached a unanimous decision. Shortly after 3 p.m., the jury returned and informed the court that they had still not reached an agreement.
“In this case, I think that they can’t move on to count 2 unless they find the defendant not guilty of count 1,” Wiley told both attorneys. “I have to at least try to ask the jury to find a verdict on count 1.”
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Dafna Yoran stated that she would consult with her team following the jury’s second note. The prosecution might request that the top charge be dismissed, allowing the jury to focus on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
After giving the attorneys time to review, Wiley issued “Allen charge” instructions to the jury in hopes that they could reach a unanimous decision, which they could not. Penny’s attorneys requested a mistrial but were denied by Wiley, who decided to give the jury more time to deliberate.
If they could not reach a decision, a new trial would be set with a new jury.
“You’ve been a very good jury, and there’s no reason to think that any other jury in a future trial will be any more intelligent or fair than you are,” he said, expressing that the decision should not take long.
After deliberating for half an hour, the jury asked Wiley to clarify the meaning of “reasonable” person, which Penny’s attorney Steven Raiser said indicated that they were thinking about the manslaughter charge.
“They are being very deliberate and have since sent a note regarding the reasonable person standard. This reflects on the justification charge,” he told the outlet during a lunch break.
“If the jury does find the Government failed to disprove justification, the charges, including the top count, will be dismissed.”
Former NYPD inspector Paul Mauro said that this should not be declared a “victory” for the defense, insisting that the case should not have made it to trial.
“Daniel Penny is a young man spending thousands on attorneys, he faces a civil case, and a district attorney’s office that has chosen ideology over law enforcement may well retry him if we get a mistrial,” he said. “His liberty remains at risk. This is not justice.”
Penny is accused of killing Jordan Neely after placing him in a chokehold on a New York City train after he was perceived as a threat to other passengers.
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