Daniel Penny’s defense attorneys rested their case Friday with testimony about Jordan Neely’s open warrant — and without calling the Marine veteran to the stand at his lighting-rod manslaughter trial.
The final witness called by the defense was a court clerk, Brian Kempf, who told Manhattan Supreme Court jurors about issuing an arrest warrant for Neely after the homeless man failed to appear for a court date in February 2023 — just two months before his death on the floor of an uptown F train.
Penny’s decision not to testify means that jurors will not hear his own explanation for why he kept Neely, who witnesses say delivered an “unhinged” rant toward passengers, in a six-minute-long chokehold.
“This jury has heard from Mr. Penny. They heard from him before he had the opportunity to have an attorney.They heard him in the minutes and hours after this incident… He told them what happened, and he said all the same things, all the same things in essence that the credible eyewitnesses testified. That Jordan Neely was terrifying,” Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, told reporters after court wrapped Friday.
“He believed like so many eyewitnesses that he was going to make good … He thought someone was going to get hurt, he thought someone was going to get killed and he acted. I don’t know how much the jury has to hear in that regard.” Kenniff said.
Closing statements are expected on Dec. 2.