Now and again, justice is vindicated and right triumphs over wrong.
With its “not guilty” verdict on Monday, a Manhattan jury unanimously sent a resounding message to District Attorney Alvin Bragg that he wrongfully prosecuted a good Samaritan. A man who courageously came to the aid of subway passengers who were threatened with imminent death. Not that Bragg will pay any heed.
The case against Marine veteran Daniel Penny should never have been brought. It was a gross injustice. By law, he was justified in using reasonable force —even lethal force— to subdue a maniac who vowed to murder riders the moment he entered a subway car. That man, Jordan Neely, initiated the confrontation and died as a result of his own menacing and illegal actions.
Instead of being commended, Penny was pilloried as a bigoted vigilante by the usual crowd of racial justice warriors who yearned to turn Neely’s death into another George Floyd outrage. Bragg, who sees everything through the prism of race and politics, was more than happy to do their bidding. At trial, his lead prosecutor referred to Penny as “the white man.” It was reprehensible.
But in the end, 12 diverse jurors refused to abide the blatant race-baiting. They were well acquainted with the perils of New York’s treacherous subway system, which has experienced a 60% increase in murders this year, according to police statistics. Stabbings, shootings, beatings, and robberies now seem commonplace as criminals roam freely in the underground transit system searching out their next victims.
Jurors accepted as true the testimony of passengers —some of whom are Black— that they were grateful when Penny came to their rescue. Neely terrorized them. They were panicked and stricken with fear that their lives were about to end. Far from a rogue criminal, the former marine was perceived by those in danger as their beneficent and heroic figure.
Bragg didn’t care about the innocent sufferers who were threatened with death. His idea of “restorative justice” has always been centered on protecting criminals. During trial, his prosecutors contemptuously dismissed passenger accounts of what happened that terrible day while manipulating evidence to transform Neely from villain to victim.
