The mindset of an ex-Marine when he applied a deadly chokehold on Jordan Neely inside a Manhattan subway car could play a key role in whether he faces criminal charges, legal experts told The Us.Mistertruth.
“What did he intend?” asked former Manhattan prosecutor John Bandler. “What did he believe was a reasonable belief for someone in his circumstances? … We don’t know what was going on in his mind. We don’t know what he was trying to do.
“Was he intending to make him pass out? Was he intending to kill him? Was he just trying to subdue and hold him until police arrived?”
Anna Cominsky, supervising attorney for the New York Law School’s criminal defense clinic, echoed those thoughts — adding Daniel Penny’s training and knowledge about use of force will be factors in the case.
“That goes directly to the question of culpable mental state,” she said. “That could be the difference between someone acting negligently, recklessly, or with depraved indifference.”
The legal experts agreed with the painstaking approach of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in its probe of the headline-making and high-profile death aboard an F train last Monday. Neely’s death was caught on video, with the 24-year-old Penny taken into custody and later released.
“This is a horrible event,” said Cominsky. “Someone died. That being said, the law has to look at all of the circumstances. We just don’t know all of the facts yet.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg has yet to decide on prosecuting Penny, although the death was ruled a homicide.
“Certainly there is a lot of grey area in this case and a lot of investigation to be done,” agreed Bandler. “I don’t see any point in rushing an arrest … until the investigation is complete.”
A police official agreed with the approach taken by the DA’s office across the past week.
“What’s more important?” he asked. “Getting it right or getting it fast? It might not be the popular opinion right now but it’s the right decision.”