Written by Nathan Lane
(Reuters) – Daniel Penny, the former U.S. Marine who restrained a New York City subway passenger in a chokehold and was acquitted this week of murder in his death, will attend the Army-Navy football game on Saturday as a guest of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
Vance said in an President-elect Donald Trump will also attend the game in Landover, Maryland.
A Manhattan jury found Binney, 26, not guilty of criminally negligent homicide Monday in the death of Jordan Neely, who prosecutors acknowledged was agitated and acting in a threatening manner when he boarded an uptown train on May 1, 2023.
The case attracted widespread public attention, with some viewing Nellie, who was black, as the victim of a white vigilante. Others, including some Republican politicians, described Penny as a hero for protecting others on the train.
“Daniel is a good man, and the New York mob prosecutor tried to ruin his life because he had a backbone,” Vance wrote on X.
Vance added: “I am grateful that he has accepted my invitation and I hope he can have a good time and appreciate how much his countrymen admire his courage.”
Penny's attorney, Stephen Reiser, confirmed that his client would attend the game as Vance's guest.
“He doesn't look at it as a political statement. He looks at it as just an honor basically,” Riser said. “If it had been a sitting Democratic president who invited him to the Army-Navy Game as a way to show support for the Army and his country, he would have gladly accepted that as well.”
Penny said he never intended to kill Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with a history of mental illness. Penny did not testify during the trial, which began in October. He left the courtroom on Monday without commenting to the media.
Before Monday's acquittal, the judge had already dismissed a more serious charge, second-degree manslaughter, after jurors appeared twice during the third day of deliberations to say they were divided on it.
