Republican New Jersey congressman nixes jury, endorses vigilante justice

Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s defense a U.S. Marine Corps veteran charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely, is an endorsement of vigilantism and mob justice.

Manhattan prosecutors emphasized that no witness has testified about Neely specifically threatening anyone, making physical contact, or displaying a weapon before Penny killed him. The only item police found in Neely’s possession was a muffin.

“A jury will decide whether Daniel Penny killed Neely without provocation or if his actions were justified on May 1, 2023,” said Lisa McCormick, the progressive activist who took nearly four of ten votes in the 2018 Democratic primary away from disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez. “I am not in the courtroom to hear all the evidence, so I can’t render an opinion about the case, but Jeff Van Drew is not there to hear the evidence so his politically-motivated endorsement of vigilantism seems wildly out of touch with American ideals of justice.”

Jurors at Penny’s trial in the caught-on-camera subway chokehold death of Neely said Friday they’re struggling to reach a verdict on the top charge of manslaughter.

Neely was a 30-year-old black man who grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey, was frequently homeless, and had been involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness before he boarded a train car occupied by Penny and several others just over a year and 7 months ago.

In 2007, when Neely was 14 years old, his mother was murdered by a man with whom she had been in an abusive relationship. Her body was found in a suitcase on the side of the Henry Hudson Parkway. Neely was called to testify at the trial.

Neely boarded the New York City Subway train and reportedly began screaming that he was hungry and needed a job, saying that he was not afraid of going to prison and was ready to die.

Neely died after Penny, a white Marine veteran from West Islip, New York, who at the time of the killing was 24 years old, put him in a chokehold.

Police questioned Penny after the incident but released him without charges a few hours later.

A grand jury’s indictment was unsealed against Penny on June 28, 2023, charging him with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter, giving a trial jury the option to convict on a lesser charge.

After the arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office released a list of evidence that included witness statements, cellphone videos from at least two witnesses, and surveillance video.

The charges recognize that the former Marine sergeant and infantry squad leader intended to restrain — not kill — his victim, as Penny himself has insisted. But prosecutors say that Penny was negligent in not realizing his chokehold might take Neely’s life.

Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez, who witnessed the incident, recorded it, and uploaded it to Facebook, said that Neely removed his jacket and threw it violently to the floor, scaring some other passengers who responded by moving away from him.

Vázquez said that he did not see Neely assault anyone although “he stood in the middle of the train car, and then he started yelling that he didn’t have food, that he didn’t have water. From what I understood, he was yelling that he was tired, that he didn’t care about going to jail.”

“It’s at that moment that this man came up behind him and grabbed him by the neck, and I think — I didn’t see, but I think — that move of grabbing him by the neck also led him to grab Neely by the legs with his own,” Vázquez said. “They both fell. And then in like 30 seconds, I don’t know, we got to Broadway-Lafayette, and they were just there on the floor.

Other witnesses reported fearing Neely or accusing him of throwing trash at other passengers and approaching people before Penny approached the despondent homeless man from behind and put him in a chokehold.

Vázquez told The New York Times that Neely began screaming, “I don’t have food, I don’t have a drink, I’m fed up. I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.” However, his account raises doubt whether he posed a genuine threat to anyone.