Roughly ten years ago, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough accused George Zimmerman of being a “murderer” after the death of Trayvon Martin. He turned out to be wrong, as Zimmerman was eventually acquitted.
A decade later, MSNBC’s Katie Phang now appears to be following in Scarborough’s footsteps, according to NewsBusters.
Indeed, during a segment on Saturday, she essentially accused Daniel Penny — the man arrested for violent homeless man Jordan Neely’s death — of being a murderer.
“Let’s start with Jordan Neely and his, um, his tragic murder,” she said during a panel discussion with MSNBC legal analyst Cynthia Alksne.
“His family is pushing for Daniel Penny to be charged with murder. Why do you think D.A. Alvin Bragg went with second-degree manslaughter instead of murder? And can a grand jury actually return an indictment for a more serious charge?” she then asked Alksne.
Listen:
To her credit, Alksne replied by dismissing the idea that Penny committed murder and acknowledging that manslaughter is a much more fitting charge.
“I have to say, I think this is probably the right charge. You know, the murder one is, the murder one really has an intent to kill. And I don’t think you’re gonna be able to prove that he went with an intent to kill, or even during the chokehold. A man one, which is voluntary manslaughter, would be he intended to cause serious physical injury, and then it ended up causing death,” she said.
“The second-degree manslaughter is, it seems to fit the bill. It’s reckless homicide. His behavior was reckless. The chokehold created a very serious, unjustifiable risk of death, and he disregarded the risk. And his behavior, the third element for the prosecutors, is that it grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation. That does seem to fit the bill,” she added.
To her credit again, Alksne also admitted that prosecutors will most likely lose their case against Penny.
“I will tell you that, having tried cases in New York, I mean, I know it’s been a while, but I’ve tried cases in New York. And I’m not gonna be surprised if this is a hung jury when it comes down to it in the end. My guess is the guy does not plead,” she said.
“There’s a minimum on this, it’s up to 15 years, a class E felony, but there is a minimum, and my guess is from the way his lawyer sounded, he doesn’t plead and he rolls his dice with the jury. And I would bet that it hangs,” she added.
Why will the prosecutors most likely lose? Because of overwhelming evidence in Penny’s favor, including witness statements, 911 call records, Neely’s mental health history, Neely’s extensive criminal record, and the fact that several other men, including a black one, had assisted Penny in holding Neely down.
Plus, there’s even video footage showing other passengers thanking Penny for having taken action.
Even Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera, a liberal, has admitted that Penny “has a good defense.”
‘Has a good defense’: Geraldo Rivera weighs in on Marine charged with subway choking https://t.co/JPOtKImk9L via @BIZPACReview
— Vee (@Vee97594531) May 13, 2023
The defense will include statements from witnesses like a 66-year-old woman who was aboard the subway train where Neely was subdued by Penny.
“I hope he has a great lawyer, and I’m praying for him,” the woman, who chose to remain anonymous, told the New York Post last week.
“And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do. Because after all of this ensued, I went back and made sure that I said ‘Thank you’ to him,” she added.
Thank Penny for what? For keeping her and other passengers aboard the subway train safe from Neely.
According to the woman, the homeless vagabond had been threatening passengers right before Penny put him in a chokehold.
“He said, ‘I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet, I’ll go to jail’ because he would kill people on the train. He said, ‘I would kill a motherf—er. I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet. I’ll go to jail,’” the woman recalled.
“The retiree said Penny did not initially engage with Neely during the wild rant until things got out of hand and he felt the urge to step in,” according to the Post.
As previously reported, Penny was charged last week with second-degree manslaughter over Neely’s death. Prior to him being charged, his lawyers had released a statement drawing attention to Neely’s sordid record and bad behavior.
Fmr. Marine in subway choking incident releases statement via lawyers https://t.co/6iU2GmirG6 pic.twitter.com/2M9iuogYHT
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) May 9, 2023
“When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” the statement reads.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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