The jury in Manhattan’s trial of Daniel Penny’s subway chokehold killing of Jordan Neely has informed the judge that they are deadlocked on the manslaughter charge. The judge has told them to keep deliberating.
Penny, 26, a former Marine, faces one count of manslaughter in the second degree and one count of criminally negligent homicide, and is facing up to 15 years in a manslaughter conviction, or up to four years on the negligent homicide charge.
Penny cannot be convicted of both charges, and the judge has instructed that they can only consider the second charge of criminally negligent homicide by coming to a unanimous conclusion of guilty or not guilty on the manslaughter charge.
Judge Maxwell Wiley gave the instruction over objections from Penny’s defense attorneys who moved for a mistrial over the deadlocked panel of 12. One male juror shook his head looking down as Wiley instructed the jury to “be flexible” as they move forward.
“It’s not time for a mistrial,” Wiley told the attorneys outside the presence of the jury.
The jury got the case on Tuesday afternoon and have been delibering for over 16 hours.
