NEW YORK – New York City Marine veteran Daniel Penny returned to court Monday for a murder trial — and his defense team filed another motion to declare a mistrial after the prosecution’s star witness, Dr. Cynthia Harris with the City Medical Examiner’s Office, brought up the word “murder” on the stand. witness
When discussing Jordan Neely’s cause and manner of death, Harris mentioned that “Dr. Graham reviewed all homicide reports.”
Judge Maxwell Wiley ordered that the comments be struck down, but other testimony in the conversation will remain part of the case.
Penny, 26, in the trial for the death of Neely 30 years, but was not accused of murder. Prosecutors have charged him with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Neely got into the subway car, threw his jacket on the ground and began making vague death threats, according to witnesses.
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Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court, in New York, NY, Monday, November 18, 2024. Penny, a Marine veteran, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely in New York. City subway train. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
Earlier this month, Penny’s defense had moved for a mistrial alleging that prosecutors had improperly painted Neely’s death as a racial issue. Penny has not been charged with a hate crime.
The defense said Penny didn’t get it fair trialand raised some objections, saying that the prosecutor tried to paint Penny as a “White vigilante” and improperly allowed the witness Johnny Grima, a homeless man with a conviction for bashing people with a bat, to call the defendant “murderer.” from the witness when he has not been accused kill.
Wiley denied the request as well, but told Penny’s team “I see what you got.”
Before the jury entered the room on Friday, the side discussed with the judge entered additional evidence – a police report that described Neely as the man screaming, as opposed to screaming when the police arrived.
He did not respond when the police arrived, but there was confusion related to the testimony of Dr. Harris.
Cynthia Harris, MD arrives for the trial of Daniel Penny at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City on Friday, November 15, 2024. Penny, a Marine Corps veteran, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2023 death. Jordan Neely on a New York subway train York City. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
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He returned to the stand for three on Monday. He is the 34th witness called by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. After their questioning is over, the defense team is expected to begin calling their own witnesses.
Although Neely had synthetic drugs in her system that have been compared to cocaine, she said she is not waiting for a toxicology report to reveal the cause and manner of death and is confident she died of asphyxiation, not a heart attack. He still had a pulse when Penny let go.
There was no bone damage to the chin, neck or midline structures, he said. He found scratches and bruises on his face, neck, body and arms, petechiae (small red spots caused by bleeding) in his eyes and organ damage from sickle cell trait.
This undated photo, provided by Mills and Edwards, LLP, in New York, Friday, May 12, 2023, shows Jordan Neely, left, with Carolyn Neely, his aunt. (Courtesy Mills & Edwards, LLP via AP)
Dr. Harris’s testimony began there, after Joseph Caballer, a Marine martial arts instructor who had taught Penny about chokeholds, told the jury that the point of the maneuver was to take control of the threat until they were unconscious.
Testimony is expected to be completed before Thanksgiving.
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If convicted of the top charge of murder, Penny faces up to 15 years in prison.
