A Manhattan jury delivered the verdict, clearing Daniel Penny (pictured above) of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely's death last year. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.
Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.
Penny, 26, gripped Jordan Neely around the neck for about six minutes in a chokehold that other subway passengers partially captured on video.
Penny's lawyers said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. The defense also disputed a city medical examiner's finding that the chokehold killed Neely.
Prosecutors said Penny reacted far too forcefully to someone he perceived as a peril, not a person.
The case amplified many American fault lines, among them race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was Black. Penny is white.
There were sometimes dueling demonstrations outside the courthouse, and high-profile Republican politicians portrayed Penny as a hero while prominent Democrats attended Neely's funeral.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat whose office brought the case, said prosecutors “followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end” and respect the verdict.
The anonymous jury, which had started deliberating Tuesday, was escorted out of court to a van.
