NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 The older sister of Daniel Penny, the former U.S. Marine charged with fatally choking a homeless man aboard a Manhattan subway, told jurors Monday that her brother was a 鈥渃alm, soft-spirited person鈥 with a reputation for honesty and integrity.
Jacqueline Penny, a 27-year-old accountant, was called to the witness stand by Daniel Penny鈥檚 attorneys after prosecutors rested their case Monday afternoon, kicking off a defense presentation that immediately sought to burnish the defendant's character and emphasize his military service.
Penny faces manslaughter charges in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man and occasional subway performer known for his Michael Jackson impression.
Prosecutors say Neely was acting erratically but non-violently on the train when Penny threw him to the ground and placed him in a chokehold for six minutes, showing an to the life of a man in the throes of a mental health crisis.
Lawyers for Penny counter that their client showed courage by putting his own safety above others as he worked to neutralize a 鈥渟eething, psychotic鈥 man whose behavior had frightened other riders.
In her testimony Monday, Jacqueline Penny said her brother was a soft-spoken but 鈥渁lways patriotic鈥 striver who followed the other men in the family into the military.
While she painted a picture of a close-knit town and a childhood punctuated with fishing, sports and enduring friendships, she also said their grandparents had been a key source of support to the four Penny siblings when their parents went through a 鈥渧ery difficult鈥 separation during the defendant鈥檚 high school years.
She was followed on the witness stand by Alexandra Fay, a childhood neighbor of the family, who spoke of their 鈥渢ypical upbringing鈥 in a Long Island suburb. 鈥淗e has the same exact friends that he鈥檚 had since fifth grade,鈥 she said of Penny.
The defense presentation followed three days of testimony from Dr. Cynthia Harris, the city medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Neely and concluded he'd died of the chokehold. In hours of cross-examination Monday, Penny's attorney, Steven Raiser, sought to cast doubt on that finding, questioning the woman's credentials and suggesting she had offered 鈥渘o evidence that pressure was maintained in a sufficient way鈥 to kill Neely.
Rather, Raiser said Neely, who had sickle cell condition, may have died after ingesting enough synthetic cannabinoid 鈥 or K2 鈥 to trigger a fatal 鈥渟ickling crisis.鈥 While K2 was found in Neely鈥檚 system, Harris said it was 鈥減rofoundly improbable鈥 that those factors killed Neely.
She then brushed off repeated suggestions from the defense that Penny had not applied enough pressure on Neely鈥檚 neck. 鈥淚 believe there is sufficiently consistent pressure to the vital structure of the neck, which led to him losing consciousness and sustaining brain injury,鈥 Harris said.
Manhattan jurors also heard testimony last week from another rider, who said he urged Penny to on Neely鈥檚 neck during the fatal encounter, as well as a former martial arts trainer in the U.S. Marines. The trainer said Penny had appeared to that was taught to U.S. Marines as a method to knock a person unconscious.
Jurors were also shown video of Penny demonstrating the chokehold to detectives during an interview inside the precinct.
鈥淗e had his back turned to me and I got him in a hold, got him to the ground, and he鈥檚 still squirming around and going crazy,鈥 Penny said. 鈥淗e gets a burst of energy at one point and I did have to hold him a little more steady.鈥
