The manslaughter trial of Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran, continued in New York City court Friday.
Penny was charged after placing a homeless man, Jordan Neely, in a fatal chokehold while on the subway in May 2023.
Penny’s lawyers requested a mistrial, claiming the district attorneys made “incendiary” opening statements and allowed testimony reinforcing a “white vigilante” narrative, the New York Post reported. The request was denied by Judge Maxwell Wiley.
In Friday testimony, Alethea Gittings, a woman on the same subway car as Neely, said she was “scared (expletive)” hearing him rant and rave and thanked Penny for intervening.
Another man in the subway car said Neely threw down his jacket in an “extremely aggressive” manner, the Post reported.
"As soon as [the jacket] hit the ground," Dan Couvreur said, "I could tell it was going to be bad. I wanted to be as far away as possible. I’ve ridden the subway to and from work ... this was another scale of the desperation he had in his voice, the anger, the aggressiveness. I was pretty terrified."
Couvreur said he saw Penny take Neely down to the floor and then exiting the train as fast as he could once it stopped to notify the cops, the Post reported.
Another witness, Lori Sitro, said she barricaded her 5-year-old son while Neely was ranting.
“No, I did not feel safe when he was moving around erratically," Sitro said. "I’ve taken the subway for 30 years and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a lot of unstable people. This felt different to me. I felt concerned enough to put a barrier in front of my son.”
Sitro said she was relieved when Penny intervened because Neely was coming within a foot or less of people’s faces, the Post said.
"He was very erratic and unpredictable," she said. “It felt very scary. It was increasingly loud, and it felt increasingly threatening. I would describe it as belligerent and unhinged.”