NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys agree on one thing about Marine veteran Daniel Penny’s encounter with a distressed, angry and threatening man on a New York City subway last year: Penny didn’t want to kill him.

But a prosecutor told jurors Friday that Penny “went too far” in trying to neutralize someone she saw as a threat rather than as a person, while a defense attorney said Penny showed “courage” and put the welfare of others before her own. Jordan placed Neely in a chokehold that resulted in Neely limping to the ground.

Both sides gave opening statements Friday in the manslaughter trial in Neely’s death

The case shook the fault lines around race, homelessness, perceptions of public safety and bystander responsibility. Jurors were able to hear testimony from some witnesses Friday after opening statements.

Penny pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in Neely’s death.

Twelve Manhattanites were chosen to sit at a table. The jury panel consists of seven women and five men.

The judge estimated the trial could last four to six weeks.

The prosecutor’s office made the opening speech

On May 1, 2023, Daniel Penny was indifferent to Jordan Neely, disregarded basic precautions and human decency, and needlessly killed her in a subway car by subjecting her to an asphyxiation that lasted “too long,” a prosecutor said Friday. Penny’s manslaughter and negligent homicide case.

“Jordan Neely took his last breath on the dirty floor of an F train uptown,” prosecutor Dafna Yoran told a rapt jury. He said Penny believed “Mr. Neely does not deserve even minimal humanity.” At the time of his death, Neely was 30 years old, homeless, and suffering from mental illness.

“We pass people like Jordan Neely every day in our city. As New Yorkers, we train ourselves not to engage, not to make eye contact, to act as if people like Jordan Neely aren’t there,” Yoran said. “On May 1, Neely requested to be seen.”

Neely entered a moderately crowded subway car at the 2nd Av stop and began threatening to harm people, frightening many passengers, Yoran said. “His voice was loud and his words were threatening.”

“This man took it upon himself to take down Jordan Neely. He took it upon himself to neutralize him,” he told the jury. said Daniel pointing at Penny.

After 30 seconds, the train reached the next station, Broadway-Lafayette, and all passengers exited the train car except the two men who helped Penny restrain Neely.

Yoran said, “There was no one left for the defendant to protect on the train.” “Even after Mr. Neely lost consciousness, Jordan continued to choke Neely.”

Penny pleaded not guilty. Her lawyers said Neely was “insanely threatening,” but Yoran said Penny’s actions were unnecessarily careless because she continued to choke for 5 minutes, 53 seconds after the subway car ran out of passengers. Yoran called it “A concept that never changes.”

“The defendant had no intention of killing her. His initial intention was praiseworthy,” Yoran said. “But under the law, lethal physical force, such as strangulation, is allowed only when absolutely necessary and only when absolutely necessary, and here the defendant went too far.”

The prosecutor told jurors they would watch video of the drowning. “You’ll see Mr. Neely’s life sucked out before your eyes,” Yoran said, appearing to upset one of the jurors, who grimaced and briefly closed his eyes.

The defense made its opening speech

Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff said in his opening statement Friday that Daniel Penny stood up to “protect his neighbor” after Jordan Neely’s threats, spoken with “unimaginable anger” echoed throughout the closed confines of a subway car.

“This is a case about a young man who did for others what we would want someone to do for us,” Kenniff said. “That doesn’t make him a hero, but it doesn’t make him a murderer either.”

While Penny was on the F train heading toward 23rd Street for a swim at the gym, “a seething, psychotic Jordan Neely stormed in and made her presence known,” the defense attorney said. “Neely puts his jacket over his head and hits the ground so hard even those who can’t see can hear it.”

The defense said events on the train escalated from “anxiety to fear” as they tried to make Neely appear much more intimidating than a prosecutor described in opening statements.

“Neely sets his sights on a line of female passengers,” Kenniff said. “Danny sees a mother hiding her son behind the stroller, afraid of Mr. Neely.”

Penny heard Neely say, “I’m going to kill,” and the defense said there was no opportunity for Neely to mitigate or stop the harm he threatened.

“What Danny does is take action,” Kenniff said. Drawing on “some” martial arts training he received in the Marine Corps, Penny strangled Neely without intending to kill him, but the defense said he would hold her until police arrived.

“His behavior was consistent with someone who values ​​human life, and that’s why he was trying to protect her so fiercely,” the defense attorney said.

Kenniff insisted his client “did not want to use any more force than necessary,” but Neely “aggressively resisted” while under Penny’s control. He said Penny thought Neely, who was unarmed, might have had a gun while waiting for police.

“The evidence will show that this fight did indeed last 5 to 6 minutes,” but Kenniff said Penny was “not boring.” Instead, the defense argued that Neely’s death could have been caused by cardiac arrest, a genetic condition, or something other than drowning. The defense said the risk of Neely’s death was not something Penny could perceive or predict.

Protesters gathered in front of the courthouse

The sounds of the sidewalk protest over Jordan Neely’s death could be heard from the 13th-floor courtroom. Protesters were heard calling Penny a “subway choker.”

The judge said he would instruct jurors to ignore “noise outside the courthouse.”

Dressed in a slate blue suit, Penny confidently entered the courtroom and took her place at the defense table.

Members of Neely’s family sit with the audience.

“I loved Jordan. And I want justice for Jordan Neely. I want it today. I want justice for everyone, and I want justice for Jordan Neely,” his uncle Christopher Neely said before his court appearance.

Before opening depositions, Judge Maxwell Wiley granted a defense request to allow some eyewitness statements made to police on May 1, 2023, and recorded on body-worn cameras.

A witness named Ms. Rosario was captured on a body-worn camera 15 minutes after the incident on the F train. “I can see a lot of that coming across as an excited expression,” Wiley said. He refused to allow part of his testimony in which he was heard asking whether an officer thought Neely was on drugs.

A minute later, Mr. Latimer was captured, and Wiley said his statement was “recent of the incident” and could be accepted.

“This person displays emotion and excitement as he describes what happened. This is a narrative,” Wiley said.

Most of the passengers who were on the train and witnessed the incident are expected to testify at the hearing.

(Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report)

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