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Judge Maxwell Wiley has dismissed the manslaughter charge against former Marine Daniel Penny and has ordered the jurors to consider a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.
On Friday morning, the jury informed the judge that they could not come to a unanimous decision regarding the manslaughter charge.
The judge told them to keep working towards a unanimous decision, but they quickly informed him that they were deadlocked.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran moved to dismiss the manslaughter charge.
“We move to dismiss the top count of manslaughter in the second degree,” Yoran said, according to a report from the New York Post.
The judge approved the motion.
“The 12-person panel will continue deliberating Monday on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which Penny, 26, faces in the fatal May 2023 encounter aboard an uptown F train,” the Post reports.
Penny was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for using a chokehold to detain Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was threatening people on the subway, in May 2023. Neely later died after police arrived at the scene and opted not to attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation due to his appearance of being a drug user.
Penny has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
If he had been convicted of manslaughter, he was facing a maximum of 15 years in prison.