Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who strangled a disruptive subway passenger in New York and was acquitted of homicide this week, was invited by Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance to join a box to watch the college football game between Army and Navy.
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A Manhattan jury acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide in relation to the death of Jordan Neely in 2023. A more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter was dismissed last week during deliberations because the jury could not reach an agreement on that point.
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Penny faced up to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and 15 years for non-premeditated murder.
What was the crime that Daniel Penny was accused of?
The passengers said that Neely had not touched anyone, but had expressed his willingness to die, go to jail, or even kill. The former street artist was homeless, suffered from schizophrenia, and had synthetic marijuana in his system. He had been convicted of assaulting people in metro stations.
Penny, a passenger in the train car and a former marine, took Neely from behind in a chokehold, threw him to the ground, and held him there for several minutes until the man stopped responding. Later, he was declared dead.
The case sparked a national debate, with some applauding Penny as a hero for trying to subdue a man he considered a threat to public safety and others labeling him as a white vigilante who strangled a black man to death.
Right-wing political figures have defended Penny since he was accused of the murder in May 2023. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for the Republican Party presidential nomination and was chosen by Trump last month to lead an effort with billionaire Elon Musk to reduce government spending, donated money to his legal defense fund.
After being acquitted, Penny offered an extensive interview to Fox News and declared that “she is not a confrontational person.” She told the network that she would not have been able to live with “the guilt she would have felt if someone got hurt, if he did what he was threatening to do.”
Some New Yorkers protested the outcome of the trial this week, holding signs and chanting Jordan Neely's name in a Manhattan square.
The case amplified many cracks in American society, including race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness, and homelessness.
Vance, who served in the Marine Corps, including in Iraq, said this week that "justice was served in this case" and that Penny should never have been prosecuted.
"Daniel is a good guy, and the district attorney of the New York mafia tried to ruin his life for having guts," Vance posted in a publication on X. "I am grateful that he accepted my invitation and I hope he can have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage."
What is the importance of the Army vs Navy game?
Army vs Navy played their 125th game in Landover, Maryland, the home of the Washington Commanders of the NFL. It is one of the most traditional games in college American football, although for almost 80 years neither team has had a squad to compete for the national championship.
Another tradition of this event is that it is played after the end of the regular season of the other conferences of college American football.
Navy defeated Army 31-13, who finished 22nd in the national ranking compiled by the College Football Playoff committee.
Army will play against Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl and Navy will face Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl. Both bowls are second-tier and consolation prizes for several teams that will not compete for the national championship.
In addition to Daniel Penny, Elon Musk was seen in Trump's box; the President of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and Pete Hegseth, the nominee to be Secretary of Defense in the next cabinet and who is heavily criticized for accusations of sexual abuse and excessive drinking.