By JENNIFER PELTZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors on Monday saw a video of Daniel Penny Grabbing a man by the neck on a New York City subway train while another passenger begged the Navy veteran to let him go.

The video, recorded by a high school student from outside the train, offers the anonymous jury his first direct view of strangulation in the heart of the murder trial surrounding Jordan NeeleyDeath of 2023.

Prosecutors say the student’s video has never been made public before. Jurors will also likely see a fuller version of another widely distributed bystander video, this one filmed by independent Mexican journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez.

He also witnessed the strangulation and quickly posted a video to his social media accounts, but first cut to about a minute at the beginning in which Penny and Neely were not moving much, Vazquez testified Monday.

Prosecutors say Penny, 25, recklessly killed Neely, who was homeless and mentally ill. He had frightened train passengers with angry statements that some passengers considered threatening.

penny has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say he was defending himself and his fellow travelers, stepping forward in one of the volatile moments that New York robbers fear but most avoid facing.

Neely, 30, known to some subway riders for imitating Michael Jackson, had mental health and drug problems. His family has said his life fell apart after his mother was murdered when he was a teenager and he testified at the trial that led to her boyfriend’s conviction.

He crossed paths with Penny, an architecture student who had served four years in the Marine Corps, on a subway train on May 1, 2023.

Neely was homeless, broke, hungry, thirsty and so desperate he was ready to go to jail, he yelled at passengers, who later recalled his statements to police.

It made high school student Ivette Rosario so nervous that she thought she would faint, she testified Monday. He had seen outbursts on the subway before, “but not like this,” he said.

“Because of the tone, I got quite scared and scared of what was being said,” said Rosario, 19. He told the jury that Neely was yelling in “an angry tone, like when you’re fed up.”

He said he looked down, waiting for the train to pull into a station before anything else happened.

Then he heard the sound of someone falling, looked up and saw Neely on the ground, with Penny’s arm around his neck.

The train soon stopped and she got out, but continued to watch from the platform. He would soon make one of the first calls to 911 about what was happening. But first, his shaking hand pressed record on his phone.

She captured video of Penny on the ground, clutching Neely’s head with her left arm, her right hand on top of Neely’s head, and an unseen bystander saying Neely was dying and urging her, “Leave it.” go!”.

Rosario said he did not see Neely specifically address or approach anyone.

But according to the defense, Neely lunged at a woman carrying a stroller and said he would “kill,” and Penny felt she had to act.

Prosecutors do not claim Penny intended to kill, nor do they blame him for initially deciding to try to stop Neely’s threatening behavior. But they say Penny went too far by strangling the man for about six minutes, even after passengers were able to exit the train, after two of them stayed and helped restrain Neely, and after he stopped moving for almost a minute.

An attorney for Neely’s family maintains that anything he said does not justify what Penny did.

Defense attorneys say Penny continued to hold Neely because he sometimes tried to break free. Prosecutors have said Neely was fighting to survive.

Vázquez testified through a Spanish interpreter that Neely “tried with all his might to free himself,” first trying to remove his arms from Penny’s neck, until another passenger pinned them down, and then frantically moving his legs.

Then, “at some point, he stopped moving,” Vázquez told the jury.

The defense also challenges forensic doctors’ finding that strangulation killed Neely.

Originally Posted: November 4, 2024 at 1:05 pm MST