Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday doubled down on their controversial decision to file manslaughter charges in the subway strangulation death of Jordan Neely, arguing that former Marine Daniel Penny should have known he was about to kill the homeless man considering his military training and the warnings of concerned bystanders.
The statements were included in a response to a filing in October by defense attorneys seeking to dismiss the case, with prosecutors emphasizing that Penny, 24, allegedly directly killed Neely when she wrapped her arms around the troublesome homeless man’s neck during six minutes inside the subway. car.
“The evidence before the grand jury establishes that Jordan Neely went from life to the agony of death during the precise moments the defendant was strangling him,” wrote Joshua Steinglass, the assistant district attorney handling the case.
He argued that there was clear evidence that Penny “caused Mr. Neely’s death.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office also rejected a series of statements Penny’s defense attorneys made in their motion, which sought to portray Neely, a 30-year-old man with a history of mental health problems, as a genuine threat to the other passengers traveling. the F train on the day of the meeting.
Daniel Penny’s (pictured) defense team has asked the court to dismiss manslaughter charges against him.REUTERS But the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has refused and instead filed a motion refuting defense claims that the case should be dropped. Juan Vazquez
Among them was his argument that Penny could not be held responsible for killing Neely because her death “was not foreseeable.”
“The notion that death is not a foreseeable consequence of squeezing someone’s neck for six minutes is beyond the pale,” Steinglass wrote, adding that the grand jury saw “considerable evidence” that Penny was trained to use the dangerous chokeholds by US Marines.
“The defendant’s own trainer testified that although ‘chokeholds’ are taught as a non-lethal means of restraint, students are specifically warned during training that a chokehold can be fatal to the person being restrained,” the filing says.
Even if they had not been, the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program manual clearly states that “[t]The techniques described in this manual can cause serious injury or death,” Steinglass wrote.
“This training helps support the notion that the defendant knowingly and knowingly ignored a substantial and unjustifiable risk that death would occur as a result of prolonged use of a chokehold,” the document says.
One witness said they were initially grateful for Penny’s intervention, but thought “the nature and duration of the hold bordered on exaggeration,” Steinglass wrote.
“The hold seemed so unnecessary at the time that an eyewitness can be heard on video urging the defendant to let go of Mr. Neely and warning him that ‘if you don’t let him go now, you’re going to kill him.’ ‘”, according to the court document.
A witness said he saw a “thick, pink substance” spill from Neely’s mouth as soon as Penny let go of him, the document states.
Jordan Neely, 30, was a former Michael Jackson impersonator whose mental health had worsened in recent years.AP
The district attorney’s office also criticized the defense’s argument that Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who inspected Neely’s body, never gave the grand jury concrete evidence that the former Michael Jackson impersonator died of asphyxiation. due to Penny’s chokehold.
Instead, she “gained a general opinion” about how someone could die by strangulation, which the defense said only amounted to conjecture.
Steinglass called this “simply false.”
Harris told the grand jury that she saw scratches and bruises that to her “were an indication that there had been trauma to (Neely’s) neck,” Steinglass wrote.
He also testified that there was bleeding or hemorrhage in some of Neely’s neck muscles, indicating that “there had been trauma involving a significant amount of force applied to his neck.”
And he pointed to a moment in a video recording of the chokehold when Neely intentionally stopped moving.
Neely’s death sparked protests in New York. Getty Images Penny has been released on bail ahead of her trial. Pablo Martinka
“Dr. Harris explained that the movements after that point are best described as ‘contractions and the type of agonal movement seen around death,'” Steinglass wrote.
Penny, a former infantry squad leader, has been charged with second-degree murder and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death in the caught-on-camera lightning rod case.
He remains free on $100,000 bail and faces up to 19 years behind bars if convicted.
Penny has said she had no intention of killing Neely when she grabbed him from behind on May 1, but felt she had to intervene to protect other passengers because Neely was littering and threatening them.
In their motion to dismiss, defense attorneys described Neely as a chaotic storm who made his presence known as soon as he boarded the subway car that afternoon.
But prosecutors said witnesses varied in their assessments of how dangerous Neely really was, and several testified that the erratic man was not much different from other rowdy homeless men they had encountered in the Big Apple.
Penny, 24, faces up to 19 years in prison. REUTERS Penny was trained to use chokeholds and should have known they could kill Neely, prosecutors said. REUTERS
“To me, it was like another typical day in New York,” said one witness. “That’s what I’m used to seeing.”
Even Penny himself didn’t seem concerned at first, according to his interview with police after the fact: He told officers he “wasn’t really paying attention” because Neely was “just a crackhead,” according to the police report. district attorney’s office.
“He says, ‘If I don’t understand this, this, and this, I could go to jail forever,'” Penny told investigators, according to the court document. “He was talking nonsense, you know, but… I don’t know. “These guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff.”
The Long Island native acknowledged that Neely was not armed and had not touched anyone, but said he intervened after Neely’s tirade because he found it threatening, Steinglass wrote.
Police released Penny after questioning him, but Steinglass said officers “did not yet have any video of the encounter.”
Penny was arrested about two weeks later after footage of the encounter emerged and sparked outrage.
Jordan Neely’s father, Andre Neely (center) at Penny’s arraignment in Manhattan court. Pablo Martinka
The district attorney’s office filing also refuted the defense’s argument that Penny’s statements should be suppressed because they were obtained illegally: Steinglass wrote that they were “legally obtained” and denied all allegations to the contrary.
He also said the warrants for Penny’s electronic devices and cloud storage accounts were not overly broad and lacked particularity, as the defense said.
On Wednesday, Thomas Kenniff, one of Penny’s attorneys, told The Post that the defense team would respond in its own court filing.
“We have received the District Attorney’s opposition to our motion to dismiss this indictment and look forward to filing our response in writing,” Kenniff said in an email.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn