Daniel Penny, the veteran charged in New York City over the death of Jordan Neely after he placed the violent homeless man into a chokehold on a subway car, was found not guilty.
But the case, which drew national attention as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office pressed charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide against Penny, still has implications for the American justice system beyond the verdict rendered this week.
Davis Younts, a constitutional attorney and retired Air Force JAG, said in an interview with The Sentinel that there exist many precedents and protections throughout the legal system that avoid dissuading heroic behavior, but expressed worry that the politically charged prosecution of Penny would indeed cause future Good Samaritans to hesitate before preserving human life.
“I think the most unfortunate part of this case from a legal perspective is that the district attorney charged this individual in the first place, or even thought that was necessary,” Younts said.
Penny, a former Marine sergeant, protected fellow subway passengers from Neely, who had a lengthy criminal record and threatened to kill others in the subway car. Younts noted to The Sentinel that military service members are taught chokeholds and other martial arts techniques, but warned that prosecutions targeted at Good Samaritans can deter even trained professionals from intervening in such scenarios.
“That’s why we elect district attorneys, because we are electing them to exercise their discretion and evaluate the case,” Younts commented. “I do think that the fact they prosecuted this case, and that Penny had to go through this, will have an impact and will have a chilling effect. Good Samaritans, even people with training and with law enforcement experience, are going to be discouraged from intervening and helping in these situations because of this prosecution.”
Some commentators have linked the prosecution to the Ferguson Effect, a trend named for the decrease in policing activity which took place after social justice activists protested the death of Michael Brown. Younts concurred that similar trends will impact Good Samaritans.
“There is this desire, for political reasons, to prosecute what really is good behavior,” he commented. “That is the opposite of what our legal system should be doing.”
Younts observed that the Penny trial should remind Americans to be aware of their local district attorney elections, since progressives such as George Soros fund races for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other prosecutors with records of pursuing politically charged cases. “The call to action here is to know who your district attorney is,” he said. “Bad district attorneys can have nationwide impacts. People will be injured or killed because of this prosecution.”
