Opening statements were heard Friday in the trial of Daniel Penny, a New York City subway passenger who faces charges relating to the death of a homeless man who allegedly threatened other passengers last year.
Penny, a 25-year-old former Marine, faces up to 19 years in prison after he put Jordan Neely, who was allegedly threatening passengers, in a chokehold. Neely died at the scene.
“This is a case about a young man who did for others what we would want someone to do for us,” said Penny’s attorney Thomas Kenniff, according to Fox News. “Words like ‘I’m ready to die. I’m ready to serve a life sentence,’ when these threats spoken in the confined [space] in a moving subway car, you either bury your head and pray or you stand up and protect thy neighbor. That’s what Danny Penny did.”
In his own opening statements, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran said…
