NEW YORK – Lawyers for Navy veteran Daniel Penny, who is on trial for the death of a man they called a “deranged lunatic” in court, asked the judge to declare a mistrial Thursday over testimony from a “biased” witness. ” and an apparent anti-white narrative. from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutors.

The defense argued that Penny is not receiving a fair trialand raised a series of objections, saying the prosecution was trying to portray Penny as a “white vigilante” and improperly allowed witness Johnny Grima, a homeless man convicted of hitting someone with a bat, to call the defendant a “murderer.” ” from the witness stand when he has not been charged with murder.

Penny, 26, was an architecture student attending a New York City college after proudly serving her country in the Marine Corps, defense attorney Thomas Kenniff said.

Neely, 30, was a “deranged lunatic” with a documented history of causing trouble, he said, including allegedly assaulting a 67-year-old woman in another subway car.

DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: SUBWAY MADMAN RAISED HIS FISTS BEFORE DEADLY STRANGLE OF MARINE VET, WITNESS WITNESS

Daniel Penny arrives for opening arguments in his trial at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York City on November 1, 2024. Penny, a Navy veteran, is charged with second-degree murder and criminally negligent homicide by the death of Jordan Neely in 2023 on a New York City subway train. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)

That comment caused observers in the gallery to start talking and court officials told them to “calm down.”

Judge Maxwell Wiley denied the request but told Kenniff: “I understand what you mean.”

Grima, a 40-year-old unemployed the bronx who spends time working with homeless people and spent 13 months behind bars, testified that he had dumped water on the unconscious Neely’s head when Penny told him to stop.

He then claimed that Penny was “carelessly throwing Neely’s limbs” when she repositioned him on the ground after Grima suggested he might drown if left on his back. He did not witness the start of the altercation.

“It’s kind of like when you have an abuser who abuses someone and doesn’t try to get anyone closer to the abused person,” he said.

TEENAGER WITNESS OF JORDAN NEELY WITNESS WHO WAS ‘SCARED’ BY HER SCREAMS, WANTED TO ‘RUN AWAY’

Screenshot of a bystander video showing Jordan Neely being held in a chokehold on the New York City subway. (New York Lights/Juan Alberto Vázquez via Storyful)

Penny’s defense team took issue with how objections were handled during Grima’s testimony.

Wiley said he believes Grima’s “bias” was clear to the jury but that he still had relevant testimony to give.

Prosecutors argue that Penny went too far when she strangled a belligerently screaming Neely in a Manhattan subway car after he began shouting death threats. The defense maintains that his actions were justified.

A still image from NYPD body camera video shows responding officers examining Jordan Neely, who is on the ground after Daniel Penny choked him. Penny is on trial and faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. (NYPD)

“He is not charged with murder, so only a standard of recklessness or negligence is needed here,” said Paul Mauro, a retiree. NYPD inspector who has been following the case. “To say it was reckless when (Neely) was yelling, ‘I’m going to kill someone’ … and he’s still breathing when the police show up, that’s not reckless. I’m sorry, and that’s not negligence.”

DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: MEET THE JURORS WHO WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF A MARINE VETERAN IN THE SUBWAY STANGLE CASE

Protesters hold signs calling for police abolition in front of the Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday, October 21, 2024, in Manhattan, New York. Protesters were there as Daniel Penny’s trial for the asphyxiation death of Jordan Neely began. (Barry Williams for Fox News Digital)

Neely was known to police as an emotionally disturbed person and yet he remained free to harass the public, he said.

“One clue to this whole thing is that the police let him go, because of the clues at the scene,” Mauro said. “They had no probable clause.”

This undated photo provided by Mills and Edwards, LLP, in New York on Friday, May 12, 2023, shows Jordan Neely, left, with Carolyn Neely, an aunt. (Courtesy of Mills & Edwards, LLP via AP)

Penny faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted. Friday marks 12 days of a scheduled six-week trial.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.