Daniel Penny trial jury asks for footage, testimony as it deliberates verdict

(NEW YORK) — The jury has requested to receive two readbacks and several pieces of footage as they continue to deliberate in the subway chokehold death trial of Daniel Penny.

Little more than an hour into deliberations on Tuesday, the jury asked for a readback of a portion of the judge’s instructions on the law. The jury is interested in the part about justified use of force.

They also asked for several pieces of video on Wednesday, including police body camera footage, Penny’s interrogation video, and a bystander’s video.

The jury also asked for a readback of the cross-examination of the city medical examiner who concluded that Penny’s chokehold killed Neely.

The medical examiner, the final witness for the prosecution, found that Neely died from compression to the neck and never wavered from her view under intense cross-examination.

The defense countered her conclusion, suggesting public sentiment about the case had influenced her findings and that Neely died of other factors.

The jury requested the definitions of criminal negligence and recklessness on Thursday. They also requested to see two bystander videos — one of which they had already seen — capturing the moments when Penny placed Neely in a chokehold. Wiley allowed the jury to access a laptop with the videos so they could watch the requested videos as many times as they’d like.

The jury — comprised of seven women and five men — is considering whether to convict Penny of manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, on a New York City subway train.

To convict, prosecutors have told the jury that Penny’s use of lethal force must be considered unjustifiable and that Penny acted recklessly and consciously disregarded the substantial risk of putting Neely in the chokehold for so long. Defense attorneys told the jury that Penny was only trying to protect subway passengers.

Defense attorneys also said that Penny never intended to kill Neely, while prosecutors said they do not have to prove Penny intended to kill Neely to have the jury hand down a guilty verdict.

Read the key takeaways presented to the jury during the weekslong trial here.

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