NEW YORK – Defense attorneys for Marine veteran Daniel Penney want to call a forensic psychiatrist on the witness stand during the trial in the death of Jordan Neely, a subway chokehold in New York City, to testify about the latter’s drug use. How do drug use and mental health problems impact? “The hostility which Mr. Neely displayed” may have had an effect.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office does not want the jury to see that evidence or hear expert testimony from Dr. Alexander Bardi.
Tuesday’s court session began with lawyers for both sides conferring with the judge.
Prosecutor Dafna Uran argued in court filings that “the psychiatrist’s testimony and uncorrected psychiatric records are inadmissible and their proposed introduction is a transparent attempt by the defense to taint the character of the victim so that the jury will shorten the life of
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She didn’t want the judge to hear about Neely’s past, claiming the information was “unauthorized.”
“It is black letter law in New York that a victim’s prior bad acts are admissible at trial only if they were known to the defendant at the time of the crime,” he wrote.
The defense responded that drug use is an exception to this rule because the effects are obvious even if one does not have prior knowledge of it.
But the defense counters that Dr. Barde’s testimony is necessary in his toxicology report because of the lack of details about the dosage of synthetic marijuana found in Neely’s system.
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“Limited toxicology science, and varying eyewitness accounts, create only a partial narrative,” Penny attorney Thomas Caniff wrote in a court filing. “The defense is entitled to information contained in Mr. Neely’s psychiatric records that show his use of the K2 as well as the physical behaviors he routinely exhibited while on the K2.
“Expert testimony in this regard supports two relevant facts: Mr. Neely was using K2 at the time of the incident, not just in the days or weeks before, and the behavior of someone experiencing a K2 high. were showing.”
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Penny, 26, could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top manslaughter charge. He also faces a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide for the death of Nellie, a 30-year-old homeless man with a history of mental health issues, drug use and criminal behavior, some of which They appeared on the way.
The defense was expected to call Dr. Barde to the stand Tuesday, as well as character witnesses who served in the Marine Corps with Penny, who enlisted after high school and Nellie last May. was studying architecture at the time of his fatal encounter with
Neely got on the train, threw his jacket on the ground and started making death threats, telling the thugs that he didn’t care about going to prison for the rest of his life.
During the scuffle, Penny put him in a chokehold and threw him to the ground in a boat as witnesses called 911. Another rider helped Penny stop until police arrived.
When they let go, Nellie still had a pulse, but the forensic pathologist who performed her autopsy, Dr. Cynthia Harris, testified that it is normal for someone’s heart to beat for a while even if they died of asphyxiation. be
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In his autopsy, he ruled that Nellie died of asphyxiation.
Penny’s team has maintained that Neely’s death was justified by self-defense. Prosecutors say it was unintentional but criminally negligent or negligent.