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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/defense-pathologist-says-jordan- neely-didnt-die-chokehold-nyc-subway-rcna180958
Jordan Neely died from the “combined effects” of a number of a factors,
not a chokehold, a forensic pathologist hired by Daniel Penny’s
attorneys testified Thursday.
Penny is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in
the chokehold death of Neely on a New York City subway train in May
2023.
Dr. Satish Chundru took the stand as the second expert witness for the
defense team, which is trying to refute testimony from a New York City
medical examiner who ruled that Neely died from compression to his neck
as a result of a chokehold.
Chundru, a forensic pathologist and consultant who said he has worked as
a medical examiner for counties in Florida and Texas, said he has
conducted more than 9,000 autopsies. He said the defense retained him a
little over two weeks after Neely’s killing.
Neely, 30, who had a history of mental illness, shouted, threw his
jacket to the ground and made distressing comments about being hungry
and thirsty and wanting to return to jail when he boarded an uptown F
train on May 1, 2023. Penny, 26, who was a passenger on the train, put
Neely in a chokehold and took him to the ground. His attorneys have said
that he did not intend to kill Neely and that he acted to protect the
people around him.
Prosecutors have said Penny held Neely in the chokehold for six minutes, letting him go only after he had become unconscious and gone limp. Two
other people helped him restrain Neely for some of that time. A
bystander video of Penny choking Neely on the floor of the subway car,
which was widely shared online, divided people in New York and beyond.
Some viewed his actions as praiseworthy, while others condemned them and labeled him a vigilante.
Chundru’s testimony contradicted that of Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Neely and ruled that he died of
the chokehold. Chundru said he did not believe that Neely died of a
chokehold or that Penny had applied consistent and sufficient pressure
to render him unconscious.
Chundru said he believed Neely died from “the combined effects of sickle
cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint and the
synthetic marijuana” that was in his system. He said he had reviewed
Neely’s autopsy report, two toxicology reports, genetic studies,
photographs from the autopsy, “a couple of videos of the incident,”
psychiatric records, witness statements and transcripts of police body
camera video, among other things.
Neely’s father, Andre Zachary, hung his head as parts of the bystander
video were shown Thursday, and he left the courtroom multiple times
during Chundru’s testimony, including after he said Neely had not died
of a chokehold.
Chundru criticized Harris, who told jurors Neely suffered “an asphyxial
death,” for issuing a ruling about his cause of death before toxicology
and other tests were complete.
Harris, a prosecution witness, testified over three days and said she
based her decision on the autopsy findings coupled with the video and
the investigative information about it, as well as with knowledge of
Neely’s use of synthetic cannabinoids. She was in the courtroom Thursday
during Chundru’s testimony.
One of Penny’s attorneys, Steven Raiser, spent hours trying to poke
holes in her findings and testimony. He questioned how she came to her conclusion without full toxicology results.
“No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” she
said.
Harris walked jurors through Penny’s final moments, explaining down to
the minute when he made his last purposeful movement. She also testified
that within the medical examiner’s office, the “consensus was unanimous”
about Neely’s cause of death.
Cross-examining Chundru, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna
Yoran appeared to raise questions about the quality of his work,
suggesting through a series of questions that he performed more
autopsies a year than is recommended by the National Association of
Medical Examiners, of which he is a member. Yoran will continue her cross-examination Friday.
The defense this week called six people to testify as character
witnesses, including Penny’s sister and mother. His sister, Jacqueline
Penny, 27, an accountant, testified about their suburban upbringing in
West Islip on Long Island, a small town that she described as neighborly
and beachy.
She said Penny had always been “patriotic,” so she was not too surprised
when he enlisted in the Marines after he graduated from high school
because other men in their family had also served in the military.
Their mother, Gina Flaim-Penny, a teacher’s assistant who lives in
Queens, testified that she taught Penny to “treat others equally as you
would like to be treated” and that she believed he did so. She said that
when she and Penny’s father divorced, it was difficult on all four of
her children but that they stayed close and leaned on one another. She
said that they went to family counseling and that her children also went
to a counselor. She testified that she knew her son to be an empathetic, compassionate and peaceful person.
Along with Penny’s sister and mother, four other character witnesses
were called by the defense to testify to Penny’s empathy, honesty and integrity. Their testimony followed evidence submitted by prosecutors
that suggested Penny had lied during an interview with police.
Hours after Neely was killed, according to a video shown to jurors,
Penny told two detectives in an interview at a precinct that he did not
put pressure on Neely’s neck and that he had released his chokehold as
soon as he received confirmation from the two men who helped him
restrain Neely that they were holding Neely. But last week, one of those
men, Eric Gonzalez, testified that Penny continued his chokehold after
Gonzalez told him, “I will grab his hands so you can let go.”
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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.
The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
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We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
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Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
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