The New York medical examiner who performed Jordan Neely’s autopsy testified that she determined Neely died from asphyxiation after viewing viral videos of him in a chokehold.
Dr. Cynthia Harris was the last witness called by the prosecution on Friday, CBS News reported. She testified that, even though Neely had a pulse when police arrived, he still died from Daniel Penny’s chokehold.
“This is an asphyxial death. So, in asphyxial death, for lack of a better way of putting it, the brain dies first,” she testified, according to The Washington Times.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter or up to 4 years if he’s convicted on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
Penny’s defense attorneys questioned Harris why Neely’s death certificate originally listed the cause of death as pending…
