XPost: nyc.politics, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-insurrection@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://gothamist.com/news/daniel-penny-is-free-after-nyc-subway-   
   chokehold-verdict-what-will-he-do-now   
      
   Daniel Penny, who on Monday was found not guilty of criminally negligent   
   homicide in the death of Jordan Neely last year, says he wants to resume a   
   normal life now that the closely watched criminal trial has concluded.   
      
   Through his lawyer and in a television appearance after the verdict, he   
   said he plans to go back to school, become an architect and even resume   
   riding the New York City subway.   
      
   But like many defendants who are acquitted after high-profile and divisive   
   cases, a sense of normalcy may be hard-won for the 26-year-old former   
   Marine. Gothamist spoke to high-profile defendants, their lawyers and   
   media experts who agreed that Penny’s case is likely to follow him for   
   years, and his public reputation may long overshadow his private life.   
      
   “ I don't want any attention. I don't want the limelight,” Penny told Fox   
   Nation on Wednesday. “I'd like to just go back to normal, though … we’ll   
   see.” Penny’s lawyer did not make him available for an interview with   
   Gothamist.   
      
   Neely’s family is also struggling to move forward. Neely’s father, Andre   
   Zachery, has filed a civil lawsuit against Penny. When the verdict was   
   announced, Zachery cried out in court and was escorted from the room.   
   “This really, really hurts,” Zachery said a short time later.   
      
   When asked if he felt the impact on the Neely family’s loss in the Fox   
   Nation interview, Penny said only, “Of course.”   
      
   Penny was charged with causing Neely’s death by holding him in a chokehold   
   for several minutes on an uptown F train on May 1, 2023. Witnesses said   
   Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who had schizophrenia,   
   started yelling threats after he boarded the train. Penny held Neely in   
   the chokehold on the floor of the train for about six minutes, according   
   to evidence presented during the proceedings. Neely was pronounced dead   
   soon after.   
      
   A video that a passenger took of Penny holding Neely in the chokehold went   
   viral soon after the incident, and prompted strong responses from the   
   public — with some seeing Penny as a hero and others seeing him as a   
   killer. In the days after Neely’s death, and before Penny was charged with   
   a crime, protesters flooded subway platforms in response. Prior to his   
   trial, Penny’s supporters donated more than $3 million to a legal defense   
   fund on a Christian crowdsourcing website. After the verdict, the amount   
   grew by more than $360,000.   
      
   Perhaps no one knows better what it’s like to become a lightning rod for   
   controversy over crime on the New York City subways than Bernie Goetz, who   
   in 1984 shot four young people he said were trying to rob him on the   
   subway. At the time, the city celebrated Goetz as the “Subway Vigilante”   
   in a time when crime was at a high. Others, however, vilified him. He was   
   ultimately acquitted of the shootings but convicted of a gun charge.   
      
   Goetz, now 77, said whether Penny wishes it or not, he has become a proxy   
   for people’s feelings about subway safety.   
      
   “This isn't so much about him, this is about the bulls–t going on in New   
   York,” Goetz said in a phone interview. “The people on the subways are   
   threatened all the time and should people put up with this?”   
      
   Goetz said he sympathizes with Penny, and their cases bear many   
   resemblances. Subway crime rates were high in the 1980s. There was also   
   widespread fear about subway crime when Neely died in 2023, even though   
   officials stressed rates of subway crime were lower than they had been   
   before the pandemic. Both Penny and Goetz characterize their actions as   
   defensive — Goetz defending himself and Penny defending others on the   
   train. Both were also subject to lengthy public prosecutions.   
      
   Goetz said Penny's desire for normalcy will be difficult to realize for   
   the first several years. Goetz sold electronics to factories and said that   
   after his trial he lost many of his business contacts in and around New   
   York City because no one wanted to talk to him.   
      
   “ There was a big drop in business. It basically ruined me. The   
   prosecutions destroy you financially,” Goetz said.   
      
   The polarized media market these days allows Penny and his lawyers to seek   
   out sympathetic outlets to tell his story and drum up support. Penny   
   turned to conservative outlets Fox and the New York Post for press after   
   the verdict. Goetz said there was no equivalent in the 1980s, and he still   
   blames the New York Times for what he felt was negative coverage.   
      
   Today’s more fragmented media offers Penny niche markets that he can   
   potentially capitalize on, according to UCLA communications professor Tim   
   Groeling.   
      
   “ There are people with very narrow interests that are obsessive about   
   things,” Groeling said. “You can sustain narrow and deep interest in a   
   subset of the audience much more easily now than you used to, and dramatic   
   crimes have the possibility of sustaining that kind of interest.”   
      
   Groeling points to social media and niche media platforms where chatter   
   can persist even years after a case is over. For example, he pointed to a   
   subreddit for brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of   
   killing their parents in 1996, that currently has 42,000 followers.   
      
   Others have been able to profit from their notoriety and these niche   
   markets. Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of two killings in 2020; he became   
   a star for gun advocates and also sells apparel. And Amanda Knox, who was   
   accused of killing her roommate in 2007, has since built a media franchise   
   with books, podcasts, films and speaking engagements dedicated to true   
   crime stories.   
      
   However, Groeling said the fractured media works the other way.   
      
   “ Mr. Penny is going to have people talking about him for the rest of his   
   life,” he said. “Praising him or criticizing him, the internet doesn't   
   forget.”   
      
   Goetz claimed bankruptcy after the criminal trial and told CNN that he   
   never “paid a penny” of the $43 million civil judgement. In addition to   
   the civil lawsuit from Neely’s father, Penny’s lawyers say their client is   
   exploring his own civil lawsuit — a malicious prosecution claim against   
   the prosecutors and the medical examiners. But it has yet to be filed.   
      
   Without detailing costs, Penny’s lawyers said his legal fund dwindled   
   during the criminal trial. Others accused of high-profile crimes struggled   
   to pay the bills after their trial. Casey Anthony, who was acquitted of   
   killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2008, declared bankruptcy in 2013,   
   according to the Associated Press, and lived with her defense investigator   
   and his family for several years following her trial, according to   
   Buzzfeed News.   
      
   George Zimmerman, who was tried for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)