NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Former Marine Daniel Penny, who has been indicted in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last month, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide Wednesday.
Penny arrived at a courthouse in lower Manhattan at 10 a.m. ET for his second arraignment. The former Marine’s exact charges were unsealed during this arraignment.
Prosecutors needed a grand jury indictment in order to move the case against Penny forward. The former Marine turned himself in back in May after he was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter.
The 24-year-old has been accused of taking 30-year-old Neely’s life using a chokehold onboard a New York City train on May 1. The medical examiner said Neely died from neck compression.
Video of the encounter went viral, provoking mixed emotions and claims of racism.
Penny claimed Neely was yelling and threatening people on the train, so he grabbed him from behind. He said his decision to grab Neely had nothing to do with race, but rather, he was trying to protect the other passengers.
“This was a scary situation and Mr. Neely came on and he was threatening. I’m 6’2” and he was taller than me. There’s a common misconception that Marines don’t get scared,” Penny said. “We’re actually taught, one of our core values is courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but how you handle fear. I was scared for myself but I looked around and saw women and children and he was just yelling in their faces saying these threats. I couldn’t just sit still.”
Penny denied having any intention of taking Neely’s life, claiming the chokehold was out of self-defense.
Penny’s attorney, Steve Raiser, said while he respects the grand jury’s decision to indict, there has been “no finding of wrongdoing.”
“We’re confident that when a trial jury is tasked with weighing the evidence, they will find Daniel Penny’s actions on that train were fully justified,” Raiser said.
The Neely family called Penny’s indictment “the right result for the wrong he committed.” They said Penny took the law into his own hands and unnecessarily took Neely’s life, and that he deserves to be in prison.
“Bottom line, at some point, Mr. Penny should have let go before Jordan died. There is no excuse for choking anyone for that long. Any reasonable person knows choking someone for that long will kill them,” the Neely family released in a statement. “Daniel Penny did not have the right to be the judge, jury and executioner.”
Neely’s family continued, “The grand jury’s decision tells our city and our nation that no one is above the law, no matter how much money they raise.”
Neely was homeless with a well-documented history of mental health issues and run-ins with the law. He also made money sometimes by impersonating Michael Jackson.
Penny’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 25. If convicted of a second-degree manslaughter charge, Penny could spend up to 15 years in prison and 4 years in prison on the lesser charge of negligent homicide.