Protesters accuse Marine vet of White supremacy as jury selection begins in subway vigilante case

Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of a Marine Corps veteran facing manslaughter charges after he appeared on cellphone video placing an erratic and aggressive subway passenger in a chokehold.

The passenger, Jordan Neely, 30, later died. He had a history of mental illness and a criminal record that included prior allegations of violence within the New York City subway system.

Daniel Penny, 25, faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

VETERAN IN SUBWAY VIGILANTE CASE WASN'T TOLD HE KILLED MAN THREATENING PASSENGERS DURING INTERROGATION

Daniel Penny returns after a break during his pre-trial hearing at the New York Supreme Criminal Court in Manhattan on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Penny, a Marine veteran, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train. (Julia Bonavita / Fox News Digital)

"Our team looks forward to commencing the jury selection process, and selecting a fair and impartial jury that will ultimately clear Danny of any wrongdoing," one of Penny's defense lawyers, Thomas Kenniff, told Fox News Sunday before the proceeding. 

Lawyers for the veteran previously told Fox News Digital there is "overwhelming evidence that Danny was justified in the actions he took to protect the commuters on that train." 

Attorneys for Neely's family, however, see it differently.

"This case is simple. Someone got on a train and was screaming, so someone else choked them to death," said lawyer Donte Mills. "Those two things do not and will never balance."

KEY WITNESSES IN DANIEL PENNY, JORDAN NEELY CASE REFUSE TO COOPERATE WITH DA BRAGG'S OFFICE: REPORT

Screenshot from bystander video showing Jordan Neely, left, being held in a chokehold on the New York City subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez via Storyful)

He argued that the outburst did not justify Penny's intervention.

"Jordan had the right to take up his own space," he continued. "He was allowed to be on that train and even to scream. He did not touch anyone. He was not a visitor on that train, in New York, or in this country. Jordan was allowed to exist and Penny ceased his existence solely because Penny believed he was more important than Jordan."

Dozens of Neely supporters arrived before the start of the hearing wearing "Malcom X" hats outside the Manhattan courthouse, some carried signs calling on the city to "#AbolishPolice" and others blaming his death on "White supremacist violence."

A group of protesters gather outside of Manhattan criminal court in New York City on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, the first day of the trial of Daniel Penny, who is on trial for the choking death of Jordan Neely on a subway train in 2023. (Barry Williams for Fox News Digital)

According to testimony from a motion hearing last month, Neely barged onto the train after the 10th Street Station, ripped his jacket off and threatened to "kill anybody" in May 2023.

Daniel Penny is escorted from the 5th precinct Manhattan station house on May 12, 2023, in New York. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

"He was acting like a lunatic, like a crazy person," Penny later told detectives. He said after Neely tossed his jacket, he shouted something along the lines of, "If I don’t get this, this and this, I’ll go to jail forever."

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There were women and children on the train, and Penny said he perceived a threat. When Neely walked into him, he said, he put him in a chokehold.

"I'm not trying to kill the guy," he told detectives. "I'm just trying to de-escalate the situation."

He said that two other men on the train helped him hold Neely down as they waited for police to arrive. He was still breathing when they let go, and investigators testified they had not told Penny of the man's death when they interviewed him at the precinct building later.