Daniel Penny applied 6-minute chokehold on Jordan Neely as witness accounts differ on threat: Prosecutors

Daniel Penny put Jordan Neely in a six-minute deadly chokehold on a New York City subway educate that “continued well past the point at which Mr. Neely had stopped purposeful movement,” prosecutors stated Wednesday in a brand new court docket submitting that adversarial the protection’s movement to brush aside the case.

The former U.S. Marine is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent murder in reference to the dying of Neely, who used to be homeless on the time, on the F educate on May 1.

Penny has pleaded no longer in charge to the fees and his legal professionals requested the pass judgement on to brush aside the case as a result of they allege Neely used to be “insanely threatening” aboard the educate.

Prosecutors stated eyewitness accounts “differed sharply” of their exams of the danger posed via Neely when Penny acted.

“It is certainly true that several of the passengers testified that they were fearful,” assistant district legal professional Joshua Steinglass wrote within the submitting. “Omitted from the defense submission, however, are the accounts that undermine the notion of rampant and universal panic.”

Steinglass added, “As one witness put it, ‘for me, it was like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing. I wasn’t really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don’t really hear anybody saying anything like that.'”

Less than 30 seconds after the chokehold began, the educate arrived on the Broadway-Lafayette Station, prosecutors stated. “Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train,” Steinglass stated. “The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck.”

Video of the fatal interplay started just about two mins later. The full-length video is 4 mins and 57 seconds lengthy. “The video begins with the defendant holding Mr. Neely in a chokehold on a relatively empty train while two other male passengers stand close by. Within seconds, one of those passengers grabbed and held Mr. Neely’s right arm, further immobilizing him,” Steinglass stated.

Three mins and ten seconds into the video, Neely ceases all practical motion, prosecutors stated. “After that moment, Mr. Neely’s movements are best described as ‘twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'” the prosecutor stated.

Penny’s chokehold lasted an extra 51 seconds, in line with the video.

The protection argued Penny had no intent to kill, however Steinglass stated moment diploma manslaughter best calls for prosecutors to end up Penny acted recklessly, no longer deliberately.

“The defendant held Jordan Neely on the ground with his arm wrapped around Mr. Neely’s neck. He did so with enough force and for a long enough period to kill Jordan Neely,” Steinglass stated.

“Not only did the chokehold last some six minutes, but it continued for nearly a minute past the point where Mr. Neely ceased all purposeful movement,” the prosecution’s submitting stated. “The hold seemed so unnecessary at that point that an eyewitness can be heard on video urging the defendant to let go of Mr. Neely and warning the defendant that ‘if you don’t let him go now, you’re going to kill him.'”