A jury of 12 Manhattanites has been chosen to decide the fate of Daniel Penny, a Long Island man who put a homeless man in a fatal chokehold on a subway car last year.
Mr. Penny, 26, faces charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely, who had a history of mental illness and who Mr. Penny said had been threatening passengers.
The jurors and four alternates, who Justice Maxwell T. Wiley ruled would be kept anonymous, include a cross section of residents from across the borough, including Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Washington Heights and Harlem.
On Friday, those jurors will hear the lawyers explain in opening arguments their conceptions of a case that divided New York City as soon as a video of Mr. Penny, who is white, restraining Mr. Neely, who was Black, rocketed around the internet. Some New Yorkers saw Mr. Penny’s actions on the F train as criminal. Others saw him as a champion for frightened riders.
Jury selection, which began last week, was contentious. Screening more than 100 prospective jurors, the first step in a criminal trial, took nearly two weeks and at times set off arguments between the lawyers.
The defense, led by Mr. Penny’s lawyer Thomas A. Kenniff, hired a jury consultant who has worked with a wide spectrum of defendants, including the president of Brazil, Kyle Rittenhouse and O.J. Simpson. The consultant, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, was in court with Mr. Penny’s legal team throughout the two weeks, taking notes and making suggestions.
Eight of the 12 seated jurors appeared to be white. On Wednesday, prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued to Justice Wiley that Mr. Penny’s lawyers were unconstitutionally weeding out people of color without legitimate reasons.
A prosecutor, Dafna Yoran, argued to the judge that defense lawyers were using spurious reasons to people of color from the jury, including family histories of mental illness and drug use, political affiliations and one prospective juror’s purple hair. She said white jurors with similar circumstances were not challenged.
“They really are digging to find reasons why it is they are striking these people of color,” Ms. Yoran said.
Mr. Kenniff called the challenge “outrageous.”
In response, after nine jurors had already been chosen, Justice Wiley directed the defense team to offer “racially neutral explanations” for each ensuing peremptory strike against people of color as they selected the remaining three regular and four alternate members. The judge accepted all the defense’s explanations for their exclusions as lawyers chose the remainder of the jury.
Here is what we know about the 12 jurors from their statements in court:
Juror 1 lives near Lincoln Center and works in marketing communications. She said she takes the subway three or four times a week and has seen outbursts.
Juror 2, who lives in Washington Heights, is a health-care worker who gets most of his news from television and online. He said he takes the subway four times a week and has never seen a disturbance from a rider.
Juror 3 is a software engineer from the East Village. The juror said he occasionally rides the subway and has never felt threatened.
Juror 4 lives in Yorkville and is an insurance lawyer. She said that a woman with a cart has rammed into her in a subway car, causing her to back away. “I didn’t fear for my life or anything like that,” she said.
Juror 5 is an Upper East Side resident and retired systems engineer. A homeless man who “seemed to be suffering from mental illness” once approached him for no apparent reason while he stood on a subway platform and harassed him, he told the courtroom.
Juror 6 is a retired public librarian and lives in Morningside Heights. She said that he rides the subway several times a week and has seen outbursts, but never felt personally threatened.
Juror 7 works in creative production and lives on the Upper West Side. He said that he takes the subway daily, but has never seen an outburst or felt harassed.
Juror 8 is retired and lives in the East Village. She said that she rides the subway less in her retirement, but has never had any problems in the past.
Juror 9 lives on the Upper West Side and worked in a school development office. She said that she rides the subway four to five days a week and has witnessed outbursts, but has never felt personally threatened.
Juror 10 lives in the West Village and works in online retail marketing. During questioning, she said she had been harassed on an empty subway car while she was with a friend. “I think there are particular instances where force can be used,” she said.
Juror 11 works as a corporate lawyer and lives in Murray Hill. He said he gets his news from podcasts, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. He said he rides the subway often and has seen outbursts, but never felt threatened.
Juror 12 lives on the Upper East Side and works as a paralegal on a litigation team. She said she rides the subway five times a week and has seen outbursts.
The post A Jury Is Set for the Trial of Daniel Penny, Accused in Subway Killing appeared first on New York Times.
