
Daniel Penny Found Not Guilty in Unanimous Vedrict
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The jury in Daniel Penny’s high-profile New York trial has returned with a unanimous decision and found the Marine veteran not guilty in the death of Jordan Neely.
The verdict comes after Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the manslaughter charge against Penny, who is accused of killing Neely.
The judge’s ruling on Friday left the jury to consider a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide against Penny.
Wiley gave the jurors the Allen charge earlier on Friday, which are instructions reminding the jurors of how much time and money has gone into the case and how imperative it is that they reach a decision.
The jury cleared Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.
Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.
The trial, which began in October, centered on whether Penny, an architecture student and Marine Corps veteran, was justified in using potentially lethal force on Neely during the May 1, 2023 incident.
Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.