Jury selection begins in the trial of a man charged in a New York City subway chokehold death

NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a U.S. Marine Corps veteran charged with manslaughter for placing a man in a deadly chokehold on a New York City subway train last year.

Daniel Penny, 25, is accused of “recklessly causing the death” of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old former street performer. Witnesses say Neely was acting erratically on the train on May 1, 2023, when Penny moved to restrain him.

Penny has pleaded not guilty in the case, which sparked debate and division locally and across the country.

After the death of Neely, who was Black, protesters demanded that authorities arrest Penny, who is white. Others rallied in support of Penny outside the courthouse once he was charged. The case also became a cause célèbre among Republican presidential hopefuls.

Penny, who served four years in the Marines before being discharged in 2021, has been free on a $100,000 bond. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of second-degree manslaughter and up to four years if convicted of criminally negligent homicide.

An initial group of 136 potential jurors were brought into the Manhattan courtroom Monday for a first round of screening focused on whether they have work or family obligations that could keep them from serving on a trial that's expected to continue into December.

When the first group of people were asked whether any had heard of the case, nearly everyone in the packed courtroom raised a hand to indicate yes.

“Not a surprise,” Judge Maxwell Wiley said.

“Even if you have formed an opinion about it, that does not disqualify you from serving on this case,” he said, adding that anyone who is picked for the jury must keep an open mind.

Penny, at times when prompted by the judge, briefly stood and waved to prospective jurors and greeted them with a soft “good morning” or “good afternoon.”

Otherwise, he sat mostly facing the judge in his blue suit and maroon tie as potential jurors were called up individually to the bench to explain their potential scheduling issues.

Those asking not to be placed on the jury cited holiday travel plans, faraway weddings, house moves and other personal obligations.

By the end of the day, some 45 people were asked to return for the next stage in the screening on Friday; the rest were excused.

The selection process is expected to continue Tuesday, and it will likely be days before prospective jurors are questioned about any beliefs, personal connections or life experiences that could affect their ability to serve fairly and impartially.

Witnesses to the incident said Neely — who struggled with drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness — had been shouting and demanding money when Penny approached him.

Penny pinned Neely to the ground with the help of two other passengers, and placed him in a chokehold for more than three minutes until Neely’s body went limp. The medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide caused by compression of the neck.

Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, was among those in courtroom audience Monday. The family's lawyer, Donte Mills, said outside court that Zachery is feeling hurt and seeking justice for his son.

“This is going to be a very simple case that’s easy for the jury to deliberate on," Mills said. “The facts of the case is this: someone got on the train and was screaming, and someone choked that person to death. Those things will never balance out and there’s no justification that can make those things balance out.”

Penny’s lawyers have argued that the Long Island native didn’t intend to kill Neely, just to hold him down long enough for police to arrive. Penny has claimed Neely shouted, “I’m gonna kill you” and that he was “ready to die” or go to jail for life.

“We feel that the truth is only going to come out through this trial," Steven Raiser, one of Penny’s lawyers, said outside court. "There’s a lot of evidence that people aren’t aware of. There’s a lot of assumptions that have been made that are going to be dispelled once we have all the evidence.”

Raiser has said the defense plans to offer up other potential causes of Neely’s death, including high levels of the synthetic cannabinoid known as K2 found in his body.

They’ll also argue that video shared widely on social media proves Penny was not applying pressure consistently enough to render Neely unconscious, much less kill him.

Penny's lawyers said Monday that they hadn't decided whether he will testify.

Prosecutors, in their court filings, have argued that Penny’s actions were reckless and negligent even if he didn’t intend to kill Neely. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office declined to comment ahead of the trial.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed.

Daniel Penny leaves the courtroom during a break in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Jury selection is set to begin in the criminal trial of the U.S. Marine Corps veteran who placed a man in a deadly chokehold aboard a New York City subway train last year. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A woman yells and holds up a picture of Jordan Neely just before Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Jury selection is set to begin in the criminal trial of the U.S. Marine Corps veteran who placed a man in a deadly chokehold aboard a New York City subway train last year. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A woman yells and holds up a picture of Jordan Neely just before Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Daniel Penny arrives to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The men formerly known as the Central Park Five before they were exonerated filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

With Election Day two weeks away, the group accused the former president of making “false and defamatory statements” about them during last month's presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. The group is asking for a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages.

“Defendant Trump falsely stated that plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime. These statements are demonstrably false,” the group wrote in the federal complaint.

The men are upset because Trump essentially “defamed them in front of 67 million people, which has caused them to seek to clear their names all over again,” co-lead counsel Shanin Specter told The Associated Press in an email.

Specter had no comment when asked if there were concerns some see the lawsuit as purely political because of the group's support for Harris. “We are seeking redress in the courts,” Specter said.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung decried the suit as “just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”

Trump campaign officials did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were teenagers when they were accused of the 1989 rape and beating of a white woman jogger in New York City's Central Park. The five, who are Black and Latino, said they confessed to the crimes under duress. They later recanted, pleading not guilty in court, and were later convicted after jury trials. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.

After the crime, Trump purchased a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. At the time, many in New York believed Trump’s ad was akin to calling for the teens to be executed. The jogger case was Trump’s first foray into tough-on-crime politics that preluded his full-throated populist political persona. Since then, dog whistles and overtly racist rhetoric have been fixtures of Trump’s public life.

In the Sept. 10 debate, Trump misstated key facts of the case when Harris brought up the matter.

“They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ’well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately ... And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty,” Trump said.

He appeared to be confusing guilty pleas with confessions. Also, no victim died.

The now Exonerated Five, including Salaam, who is now a New York City councilman, have been campaigning for Harris. Some of them spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, calling out Trump for never apologizing for the newspaper ad.

They have also joined civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton for a get-out-the-vote bus tour.

Prior defamation suits involving Trump have led to sizable amounts awarded to the plaintiffs. In January, a jury awarded $83.3 million to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll over Trump's continued social media attacks against her claims he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in 1996. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing her and issued a $5 million judgement.

FILE - The Central Park Five join Reverend Al Sharpton during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)

This combination photo shows, clockwise from top left, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson, known as Central Park five. (AP Photo)