Disturbing posters have been plastered on a New York City subway as the verdict in the Daniel Penny trial looms.
Early Thursday morning, an “autonomous group of New Yorkers reclaimed an F train car” – the same subway line on which Jordan Neely was murdered by the Marine Corp veteran on May 1, 2023.
The black and white signs featured the words “A MAN WAS LYNCHED HERE” along with Neely’s name as they replaced previous advertisements on the train.
According to Talia Jane, who shot the posters, the anonymous group’s choice of words “pays tribute to the original ‘A Man Was Lynched Yesterday’ flag” flown outside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP). ) Manhattan office from 1920-1938 as part of an anti-lynching campaign.
The group, which includes “black, brown, Asian, white and Jewish New Yorkers,” also placed flag-shaped stickers on subway maps along hundreds of platforms across the city, marking the Broadway/Lafayette stop where Neely died.
Penny, 26, put Neely, 30, in a chokehold for almost six minutes after the homeless man began shouting aggressively at train passengers.
He now faces manslaughter and negligent homicide charges as prosecutors accuse him of unjustifiably using deadly force.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and could face up to 19 years behind bars if convicted.
An ‘autonomous group of New Yorkers reclaimed an F train car early Thursday by putting posters on the train reading ‘A MAN WAS LYNCHED HERE’ in honor of Jordan Neely
A participant who helped put up the posters told Jane, “New York must ensure that its public spaces are free of the racist state violence and racist interpersonal violence that defines so much of the lives of black and brown people in this country.” city determines.
“Jordan Neely was lynched on the F train. Regardless of what the jury will say about it, we took action today to mark this train car as a place of mourning, a place of sorrow and a place of anger against a city and a country that sees certain lives as evil. more valuable than others,” the Brooklyn native added.
Another supporter told Jane: “Jordan Neely died at the hands of a state that insists that black and brown and poor and disabled people – except for a few elite – are dispensable. Jordan deserved care. New Yorkers deserve care.”
Video footage of the incident shows Neely struggling to get out of the hold before eventually going limp, despite passengers telling the former soldier to let go.
In the criminal trial, attorneys argued that Penny was only trying to protect others on the subway.
In his closing statement, Penny’s lawyer Steven Raiser described the commuters aboard the subway that day as “frozen with fear” and claimed there was a clear reason there was no footage of Neely’s outburst – because they were too scared to move.
He then cited experts and witnesses who testified at the trial, reminding jurors that Neely had “severe psychotic cases.”
Neely had a lengthy criminal record and a history of mental illness. When the Michael Jackson impersonator boarded the F train that day, he began threatening passengers and saying he wasn’t afraid of going back to jail.
Daniel Penny, 26, put Jordan Neely, 30, in a chokehold aboard an F subway train for nearly six minutes on May 1, 2023, killing him. (Photo: Penny leaves the courtroom on Thursday)
Penny has pleaded not guilty to the charges and could face up to 19 years behind bars if convicted. (Photo: Neely with his aunt Carolyn Neely)
The jury tasked with determining whether Penny committed manslaughter that day relied on testimony about the homeless man’s death.
The jury, made up of seven women and five men, sent a note to Judge Maxwell Wiley around 3 p.m. Wednesday asking him to repeat some of the city medical examiner’s testimony about issuing a death certificate without toxicology results for the 30-year-old to become a victim.
Dr. Cynthia Harris had stated that bystander video of Penny’s encounter with Neely aboard the F train in Manhattan, as well as investigative results, gave her all the information she needed to declare that Neely died of neck compression. NBC4 reported.
“No toxicology result could change my opinion,” Harris said, even if it showed “enough fentanyl to kill an elephant.”
The jury also asked for a review of a Mexican journalist’s six-minute clip of the chokehold, as well as CCTV footage from the New York Police Department when officers arrived on the scene as paramedics attempted to revive Neely, and footage from Penny’s interrogation at the hospital. the police station in the aftermath.
Defense attorneys had argued that Neely died not only from the chokehold, but from a combination of schizophrenia, synthetic marijuana use, a genetic condition and his struggle with Penny on the subway.
They noted that first responders chose to use Narcan to reverse the effects of opioids before administering CPR, and in his closing arguments, Raiser pointed out that no expert witness at trial could prove key elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
But Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran warned the jury Tuesday that their verdict should not depend on whether they themselves would be grateful for Penny’s intervention or weigh the testimony of his loved ones that he is a “good man.”
Penny is pictured putting Jordan Neely in a chokehold on a New York subway train on May 1, 2023
Penny’s lawyers have argued that he was merely trying to protect others on the subway from Neely (pictured)
“What’s so tragic about this case is that even though the defendant started doing the right thing… a man died,” she said.
‘He got all the signals he needed to stop. He ignored them. He has to be held accountable for that.”
She continued, “You’re not here to decide if you want to ride the train alone with Jordan Neely.
‘That’s not what this case is about. “The only thing you need to determine here is whether or not the evidence here proves that the defendant killed Jordan Neely.”
Yafna also noted that Penny is a Marine Corps veteran, arguing that given his military experience, he should have had a better understanding of the risks of his actions.
Amid the ongoing litigation, Neely’s parents filed a lawsuit against Penny for negligent contact, assault and battery causing injury and ultimately death. The independent has reported.
Deliberations have continued through Thursday as protesters continue to gather outside the Manhattan courthouse to censure Penny and express support for a manslaughter charge.
But some protesters have become aggressive, attorney Thomas Kenniff said Wednesday, describing how one day a man followed Penny to a car waiting for him after the trial and began banging on the doors.
The same man, he said, was “repeatedly abusing Mr Penny with violent and homophobic comments” when he arrived at the court on Wednesday.