Defense lawyer says veteran ‘acted to save’ people by using chokehold on erratic subway rider WSOC TV [Video]

NEW YORK — (AP) — A defense lawyer asked jurors to put themselves in the shoes of frightened subway riders as closing arguments began Monday in the trial of a Marine veteran charged with choking an irate, homeless man to death after an outburst on a New York underground train.

Daniel Penny claims he acted in self-defense against threatening behavior when he put Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1, 2023. Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Defense attorney Steven Raiser told jurors to imagine they were on that train when Neely got on, “filled with rage and not afraid of any consequences.” Witnesses said Neely shouted about being willing to die, willing to go jail or — as Penny recalled — willing to kill.

“You’re sitting much as you are now, in this tightly confined space. You have very little room to move and none to run,” defense …