BURSTDaniel Penny, a Marine veteran at the center of a New York City subway murder trial, spoke out for the first time after a jury found him not guilty, noting that at the time of the incident he was in “a very vulnerable position.”
“He was just threatening to kill people. He was threatening to go to jail forever, go to jail for the rest of his life," Penny said in an interview with Fox News's Jeanine Pirro, referring to Jordan Neely, whom the defendant placed in a chokehold for several minutes, leading to his death.
"And now, where I’m on the ground with him, I’m on my back in a very vulnerable position if I would have just let go," he said according to an excerpt from the interview.
Pirro also questioned Penny on what he meant by a "vulnerable position." He said he was on his back and the man could have turned around and started “doing what he said to me," alluding to death.
Penny, 26, was acquitted of a criminally negligent homicide charge Monday. He’d initially been charged with manslaughter in the death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man that was shouting at subway passengers that he was hungry, thirsty and suicidal.
The defendant was initially taken into custody but was released after Neely’s death. A grand jury voted to indict him in June 2023, and he pleaded not guilty.
His attorneys sought to show Penny, with a military background, was merely seeking to protect himself and others around him. The veteran added in the interview that he is not a confrontational person and that the attention he's received since the incident is "very uncomfortable."
“I didn’t want any type of attention or praise, and I still don’t,” he said. “The guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if … he did do what he was threatening to do, I would never be able to live with myself."
“And I’ll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed,” Penny added.
The full interview is set to air on Fox Nation later Wednesday.