The judge at the center of a controversial decision to drop manslaughter charges against Daniel Penny in his highly publicized subway death trial is no stranger to controversial decisions.
Judge Maxwell Wiley is an acting judge of the New York County Supreme Court and has presided over controversial trials in this role for two decades.
On Friday, Judge Wiley risked making a “reversible error” and giving the defense the opportunity to appeal any conviction when he contradicted his own jury instructions requiring them not to consider a secondary charge of negligent homicide until they reached a decision on the matter. charged with manslaughter.
The strict instructions they received stated that negligent homicide could only be considered if they returned a not guilty verdict on the manslaughter charge.
Jurors will deliberate over a month of testimony and evidence to determine whether Penny committed negligent homicide when he placed homeless mentally ill street performer Jordan Neely in a chokehold on a subway train in May 2023.
Neely died on the floor of the subway car, but jurors heard several testimonies about his death. The state’s witness said he died as a direct result of the chokehold, while the defense expert said it could have been a combination of factors.
Neely had the drug K2 in his system and sickle cell disease at the time of his death.
Judge Maxwell Wiley is an acting judge of the New York County Supreme Court and has presided over controversial trials in this role for 20 years
On Friday, Judge Wiley risked making a “reversible error” and giving the defense a chance to appeal any conviction when he contradicted his own jury instruction.
Penny put Neely in a chokehold on the subway floor while others assisted on May 1, 2023
“The judge makes the jury do what he said he couldn’t do. And the defense is right. This is coercive, it forces the jury to convict by changing the rules after the fact. It’s not just unorthodox, it’s legally wrong,” said Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.
“The judge’s only option was to declare a mistrial before the deadlocked jury.”
Since the ruling, interest in the judge has increased, with critics accusing him of being soft on Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran and bowing to her requests.
He was also criticized for allowing Penny to be referred to as “the white man” before a jury during the trial.
Judge Wiley was the man who rejected an attempt to prosecute Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in 2016.
The district attorney’s office tried to pursue state charges of mortgage fraud and other crimes in 2019, similar to the federal charges for which he was convicted and for which Trump was later pardoned.
But Judge Wiley shot down the attempt due to double jeopardy.
Since the ruling, interest in the judge has increased, with critics accusing him of being soft on Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran and bowing to her requests.
He also presided over the highly publicized Etan Patz murder case, which took place thirty years after the six-year-old boy disappeared from his home.
At the time, he said that “New York State’s double jeopardy law provides a very limited scope for prosecution.”
But he also has a history of handing down harsh sentences in death cases — and of encouraging jurors to keep deliberating when the going gets tough.
He sentenced Queens man Lloyd T. McKenzie to 85 years in prison, the maximum penalty for second-degree murder, after presiding over his three-month jury trial in 2017.
As McKenzie continued to protest his innocence, Judge Wiley said, “I think the evidence was extremely strong.”
He also presided over the highly publicized Etan Patz murder case, which took place thirty years after the six-year-old boy disappeared from his home.
Judge Wiley handed store clerk and father Pedro Hernandez a prison sentence of 25 years to life after he was convicted by a jury.
“The suspect has kept a terrible secret for 33 years,” the judge said. “His silence caused the Patz family indescribable fear and deepened their grief.”
Judge Wiley was the man who rejected an attempt to prosecute Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort (center)
During an initial trial of Patz’s killer, Judge Wiley urged jurors to continue deliberating twice after telling him they could not reach a consensus.
On the third jury report, he agreed to declare a mistrial.
Similarly, in the Penny case, jurors told him twice that they could not reach an agreement on the manslaughter charge.
He was inclined to send them back for consultation again when Yoran’s sensational intervention took place, which showed that the state was prepared to dismiss the highest charge.
Yoran hoped this would give jurors the freedom to accept the negligent homicide charge and reach a verdict.