What happened
A New York City jury Monday found Daniel Penny, a former Marine and architecture student, not guilty of negligent homicide in the 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely. Penny, 26, had put 30-year-old Neely, a Black homeless subway entertainer with a history of mental illness, in a chokehold after he acted erratically in a subway car.
Who said what
Neely's death "prompted a national debate over the line between self-defense and vigilantism," The Wall Street Journal said. Prosecutors said Penny's "response was excessive," keeping Neely in a chokehold "even after the man was subdued and bystanders urged him to let go."
Penny's lawyers disputed that Neely died from choking but centered their defense on the "claim that he acted to protect other subway passengers," The Washington Post said. The case turned Penny into a "conservative symbol for citizen crime-fighting."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
"I just want to say I miss my son," said Neely's father, Andre Zachary. "The system is rigged." A lawyer for the family said their "call to action is to take care of each other," since "we can't rely on the system to do it for us."
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The group is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Crime: Why murder rates are plummetingFeature Despite public fears, murder rates have dropped nationwide for the third year in a row
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
