Daniel Penny “did for others what we would like someone to do for us” – defending panicked subway passengers of an “aggressive” Jordan Neely, when he fatally strangled the troubled homeless man, defense attorneys said Friday.

Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, during opening remarks at the former Marine’s high-profile manslaughter trial in Manhattan, described his client as someone who felt compelled to intervene to ensure other passengers were not harmed by the delusional Neely. , which makes him not a hero, but definitely a hero. not a murderer.

“This is a case about a young man who did for others what we would like someone to do for us,” Kenniff told the jury of 12 Manhattan residents who will decide whether Penny, 26, “recklessly” caused Neely’s death in last May.

Prosecutors, in their own opening statements, argued that Penny was actually “criminally reckless” by holding down Neely, 30, for nearly six minutes, despite knowing her actions could be fatal, because did not “recognize his humanity.“

“Mr. Penny was so reckless with Mr. Neely’s life because she failed to recognize his humanity,” Manhattan Deputy District Attorney Dafna Yoran told the jury.

Kenniff, during his 20-minute comments, said his client heard Neely say “I will kill” on the crowded F train and that “there was only one thing Daniel Penny could do.”

When Neely, “seething and psychotic,” first boarded the northbound train on May 1, 2023, he demanded food and money from other passengers and talked about going to Rikers Island and being sentenced to life in prison, before threatening to kill him. “kill”, Kenniff. reclaimed.

All this while passengers’ “fear turns to outright panic,” including one mother who huddled behind a bench to protect her baby, the defense lawyer said.

Penny “must up the courage” to act, and while “that doesn’t have to make him a hero… it doesn’t make him a murderer,” Kenniff argued.

But Yoran, during his 40-minute openings, criticized Penny for going “too far” when she “took it upon herself to take down Mr. Neely, to neutralize him.”

The prosecutor said Penny’s “indifference toward Mr. Neely, the man whose life she literally held in her hands, caused her to ignore the most basic precautions and kill him unnecessarily, long after any threat he had posed.”

Yoran laid out the evidence the district attorney’s office will present against Penny at trial, including two videos filmed by bystanders, one of which showed Neely’s “subdued life,” which the prosecutor called “the most critical evidence in the trial.” ”. “

The first witness called to testify, in the trial that is expected to last about four weeks, was New York police officer Teodoro Tejada, who went to the Broadway-Lafayette station, where the train was stopped, looked for Neely looking for a gun, but only found a gun. muffin in your pocket.

The jury was shown images from Tejada’s body camerawhich shows doctors attempting to revive the lifeless Neely using various tools including chest compressions, CPR, a defibrillator and even an injection of the drug Narcan to bring Neely back.

The video also showed a calm Penny standing calmly, chewing something resembling gum while the ETMs worked on Neely.

Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, cried as he sat in the living room gallery watching the video showing his son lying dead on the dirty floor of the train car.

Penny faces up to 15 years behind bars if convicted.

He has pleaded not guilty and has maintained his actions They were not racially motivated..

Kenniff has previously argued that Neely’s toxicology reports confirmed that had the drug K2 in his system when he died and was “experiencing a psychotic episode” when he boarded the train.

Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, had a long history of mental illness and was on a list of people on the city streets who desperately needed help. The Post previously reported. The city’s Department of Homeless Services “Top 50” list details which people bike in and out of homeless shelters and mental health treatment centers.

When Penny walked into the lower Manhattan courthouse shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday, she was received by a group of Black Lives Matter protesters defending his conviction.

The group, holding signs that read “Justice for Jordan Neely” and “Convict Daniel Penny,” chanted phrases such as “subway strangler,” “being homeless is not a crime,” and “say his name: Jordan Neely.”

The Neely family’s attorney, Donte Mills, said Penny received training as a Marine in martial arts as well as first aid, but did not use it to help Neely.

“He used his martial arts training to kill Jordan Neely and he didn’t use his first aid training at all because he didn’t think Jordan was worth it,” Mills said outside court.

“It was worth hurting him, but it wasn’t worth trying to save him. That is why he will be found guilty after this trial.”

—Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya and Melanie Marich