Conservatives cheer as Daniel Penny is acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case.

On Monday, Marine veteran Daniel Penny was found not guilty in the death of homeless subway rider Jordan Neely, sparking anger from liberals on social media.

A Manhattan jury acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide, a charge with a maximum four-year sentence, while the more severe charge of second degree manslaughter, with a maximum 15-year sentence, was dismissed by Judge Maxwell Wiley after jurors reported being deadlocked twice.

In May 2023, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student named Penny was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the chokehold death of Neely on a Manhattan subway car. Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had an active arrest warrant at the time, had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2. Penny grabbed Neely from behind in a chokehold during the incident, and Neely later died.

The case of Penny and Neely on NYC's subway system sparked discussions about public safety, mental illness, and homelessness. While Penny's defense claimed he acted to protect others from Neely's threatening behavior, prosecutors argued that Penny's actions were excessive and resulted in Neely's death.

On Monday, liberal commentators proposed that racism and bias against the homeless and the poor may have impacted the jury's verdict.

If Jordan Neely had been White and Daniel Penny Black, the folks defending Penny today would be saying different things.

Tiffany Cabán, a Council member for NYC Council District 22 in Queens, wrote on Bluesky that the lynching of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train by Daniel Penny could have and should have been prevented.

"Jordan Neely deserved better than the violence of being denied access to stable housing and health care, and then dehumanized for it. She deserved better than the systems that allow for and justify extrajudicial white supremacist violence against Black people," she added.

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old man struggling with mental illness, drug addiction, and homelessness, was choked to death in the New York City subway by Daniel Perry. A judge, not a jury, determined that Perry was not guilty of anything. Mia Farrow, an actress and activist, wrote in a reply that she did not understand the verdict, noting that Perry was White and Neely was Black.

Jack Mirkinson, senior editor for The Nation, wrote on Bluesky that our society does not see homeless people as human beings, with no need for confirmation.

Brooklyn Dad Defiant, a popular account with over 385,000 followers, posted on Bluesky that they are sick to their stomach at the sheer jubilation over on Twitter right now that Daniel Penny got away with murdering Jordan Neely, an unhoused Black man with mental issues. It's disgusting.

Activist Joe Katz wrote that the fact that Daniel Penny, Daniel Perry, Kyle Rittenhouse, and George Zimmerman are all free in the most carceral nation in the world is something that demands a reckoning.

Daniel Penny is a racist, classist, ableist murderer who should face ignominy forever, according to Tim Wise, senior fellow at the African American Policy Forum. The post received over 4 million views over the weekend.

A link was drawn by several liberals on Bluesky between the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Penny's acquittal.

Another Bluesky account with nearly 47,000 followers posted that we can call off the manhunt for the CEO assassin since vigilante killing is legal in NYC.

If Penny was acquitted, Black Lives Matter activists in New York had previously threatened to stage a protest.

Following Penny's acquittal, Hawk Newsome, a co-founder of the New York BLM, stated to reporters, "We require some Black vigilantes."

"If people want to harm us for speaking out, why don't we retaliate when they try to suppress us?" he said.

This report was contributed to by Michael Ruiz, CB Cotton, and Grace Taggart of Planet Chronicle.