NYC medical examiner testifies at Daniel Penny’s trial in Jordan Nellie chokehold

NEW YORK CITY – Prosecutors are expected to rest Monday in the trial of Daniel Penney, who is charged with manslaughter in the New York City subway death of Jordan Neely.

After that, Penny’s defense will begin. On Monday morning, the 26-year-old Marine veteran’s team was expected to continue cross-examining Dr. Cynthia Harris of the city medical examiner’s office, who began testifying last week.

Harris, who performed the autopsy after Neely died after the aggressive explosion on the subway car, testified Friday that Neely had synthetic drugs in his system at the time of his death but died of asphyxiation.

The Manhattan forensic pathologist said he ruled Neely, 30, the cause of death as asphyxiation by compression to the neck. A toxicology report showed she also had drugs in her system, though she said she could broadly identify them as “synthetic cannabinoids,” but not in specific terms or in what dosage.

“We found a synthetic cannabinoid in the blood – a relatively new drug in the drug scheme,” he said. “They’re synthetic and more potent than marijuana. In a class of drugs, they fall into the category of stimulants — they get the body high, in the same class of drugs as, say, cocaine.”

Daniel Penny’s trial resumes as fellow Marine vet explains chokehold training on witness stand

She said there was no damage to her chin, neck or midline bones. He suffered bruises and scratches on his face, neck, torso and arms, petechiae (small red spots due to bleeding) in his eyes and damage to his spleen characterized by sickle cell disease.

Prosecutors again played the video of the strangulation and Dr. Harris commented on it.

At one point, he said he was talking, implying that “the sound of his voice is blowing the wind.” He told Nelly about the strained breathing and making hand gestures, which he said were signals for help.

Assistant District Attorney Daphne Uran asked about witnesses saying Neely didn’t gag or gasp or say he couldn’t breathe.

“Sometimes people make noise when they can’t breathe, and sometimes they don’t,” he replied.

He also said he believed Neely died about two minutes, nine seconds into the video, when her face turned purple and she began to “squirm” in death.

“I believe at this point they’re unconscious, and what we’re going to see in the form of these contortions represents a brain injury,” he said.

During cross-examination, she later said that she could not tell the time of his death from the video.

“I can’t tell you when he died philosophically, but the video is of a man dying,” she said.

Penny is on trial for the May 1, 2023, death of Nellie, a homeless man with a lengthy criminal record and history of mental illness who stormed the train and began making death threats, according to witnesses. .

As he screamed about going to prison for life, raised his fists and lunged at the crowd, Penny grabbed him in a headlock and wrestled him to the ground. Other riders helped hold him while they waited for the police to arrive. Nelly died.

Dr. Harris’ testimony began Thursday, after Joseph Keballer, the Marine martial arts instructor who taught Penny about chokeholds, told the jury that the maneuver was meant to contain a threat until he was free. Don’t be conscious.

Keballer explained the difference between a blood choke and an air choke—movements that alternately deprive the attacker of blood flow to and from the brain or oxygen. Dr. Harris described on Friday what he saw in the video.

“If you just compress the vein, but you haven’t applied enough force to compress the artery, there are certain things that you see when that happens,” he said. “You become purple or purple in color. The veins dilate, because they are full of blood. If the pressure continues, blood pools or petechiae form in the capillaries.”

She stopped the video to tell the ADA that she could see that Neely’s facial veins were dilated and that her face appeared purple, darker than the skin on her arms.

Under cross-examination by Penny’s defense attorney, Steven Riser, Dr. Harris said he acknowledged that a colleague found the petechiae to be small and “not optional.” He agreed that it would be fair to say that small petechiae were not a direct indication that death was due to suffocation.

The initial finding on May 2, 2023 was that the cause of death was “pending further study”. He said he then made the decision after watching the chokehold video.

“I made my decision based on the autopsy results and the video,” he said. “I didn’t wait for toxicology, because no toxicology report was going to change my opinion. He could have come back with enough fentanyl to kill an elephant and got on a train and got strangled, and so on. He died.”

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Although Nelly still had a pulse after Penny left, Dr. Harris said that was not unusual.

“It’s a suffocation death,” he said. “In brain death, the brain dies first. It is deprived of oxygen. Other tissues and organs in the body are not as sensitive as the brain. They will die too, but the brain dies first.”

According to a case note introduced into evidence, Nellie’s death was initially suspected to be a heart attack, and she had “no apparent trauma.”

During his testimony, Dr. Harris referred to the manner of death as homicide, and the defense objected. The judge ordered those comments expunged from the record.

He also said the synthetic drugs in Neely’s system “wouldn’t help the heart” during the struggle.

Dr Haris returned on Friday morning from where the court had adjourned the hearing a day earlier.

Prosecutors were expected to rest their case after her testimony. Penny’s defense team is expected to call its first witness on Monday – but Dr Harris will return for a third day of first testimony.

On Tuesday, a man who appeared on the video helping Penny catch Nelly.

Eric Gonzalez told the court that at one point he said Penny didn’t hold Neely tight enough, that he felt a pulse when the two finally let go, that he was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying. was given Initially lied to investigators.

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Penny could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the more serious charge of manslaughter.

He also faces a count of criminally negligent homicide.