Daniel Penny’s Defense Shifts Focus From Choke to Sickle Cell and Drug Use

Jordan Neely, a Black man who died after he was choked in a subway car last year, had the sickle cell trait, a genetic condition that can affect blood cells and overwhelmingly occurs in Black people. Whether Mr. Neely knew that he had the trait is unclear. But since his death, it has become a point of contention for lawyers.

Prosecutors have said that Daniel Penny, who is on trial for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide because he put Mr. Neely in a chokehold, restrained Mr. Neely for about six minutes, cutting off his airway. When Mr. Neely tried to break free, the pressure of Mr. Penny’s chokehold increased, prosecutors said.

But Mr. Penny’s lawyers have centered their case on convincing the jurors that Mr. Neely’s death was not caused by the chokehold and that it is impossible to know how much pressure Mr. Penny was exerting. Before they rested their case on Friday, the defense argued that Mr. Neely’s schizophrenia, synthetic marijuana use and misshapen blood cells led to his death. People with the sickle cell trait typically do not have many, if any, sickle-shaped cells or experience symptoms, but blood slides from Mr. Neely’s autopsy shared at the trial showed misshapen cells at the time of his death.

Now that both the defense and the prosecution have made their cases, each side will present closing arguments to the 12 jurors and four alternates. The judge presiding over the case, Maxwell Wiley, has decided that closing arguments will not happen until after Thanksgiving.

Here is what to know about the defense’s case for Mr. Penny.

The Role of Sickle Cell Trait

The medical examiner, Dr. Cynthia Harris, determined that Mr. Neely died from “compression of the neck,” and held firm to her findings through three days of testimony. However, an expert Mr. Penny’s legal team called to testify, Dr. Satish Chundru, rebutted that.

Dr. Chundru, a forensic pathologist, said Mr. Neely died from “combined effects.”

“Sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint and the synthetic marijuana,” he listed for jurors. He argued that Mr. Penny had struggled with Mr. Neely but had not choked him to death.