As if there wasn’t enough drama in Daniel Penny’s manslaughter case, a wild scene unfolded in the hallway outside the courtroom on Thursday.
As the court began to take a morning break and people waited to be led out, a supporter of Jordan Neely—the man who died after Penny put him in an F train chokehold—began talking loudly in the gallery, prompting the court officer to tell him to save his conversation for the hallways outside the courtroom.
Instead of politely complying with the officer’s instructions, the supporter escalated the situation.
Once in the hallways of Manhattan Supreme Court, the man began yelling at the officer, “Screw your rules.”
The defiant Neely acolyte then boldly continued to rant and shout at the court officer, who remained calm and collected as a struggle formed around them.
The verbal altercation continued for a few minutes before he finally left.
The unhinged outburst was part of a pattern of disruptive behavior on day three of the manslaughter trial.
Earlier, a woman in the gallery broke down sobbing during the testimony of bystander witness Moriela Sanchez and had to be escorted out. But her wails could be heard from the courtroom.
Another cried audibly when a photo of Neely was shown to jurors.
It prompted Judge Maxwell Wiley to gently remind the audience that they should not “visibly or audibly react.” The jury is entitled to that in this case.”
But it has become clear that this entire trial – which will see Penny, 26, serve up to 15 years behind bars for second-degree manslaughter for the death of the unhinged homeless man – is a circus of activism. Justice is just a side issue.
After all, Penny was indicted 11 days after the incident — when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg resigned to the outrage of politicians like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and other advocates, who demanded Penny’s scalp in the racially charged case.
How fitting that the prosecutor also brought to trial Johnny Grima, a former homeless man and self-described activist who works with migrants and the homeless.
Grima testified that before boarding the F train uptown that day, he was coming from Tompkins Square where he was “checking on homeless people and doing my rounds.”
He was in another car and arrived at the scene when the train was held at the station. He suggested that Penny be placed on his side so that he wouldn’t suffocate while lying on his back. He then testified that he tried to intervene by pouring water on Neely’s forehead to wake the man, but was rebuffed by Penny.
“I already felt a bit informed [Penny]. I didn’t like him,” Grima said. “It’s kind of like you know when you’ve done that, like an abuser abusing someone and they try not to let anyone near the abused.”
Grima was quite talkative when questioned by the prosecutor, but he became combative, disrespectful and mean when it was defense attorney Thomas Kenniff’s turn.
Worn like a badge of honor on his face, Grima repeatedly claimed that Penny had “killed” Neely. That he “swinged [Neely’s] limbs about carelessly” when describing Penny trying to move him onto his side.
Meanwhile, Kenniff got Grima to admit that some of the testimony he gave contradicted his previous grand jury testimony.
But Grima’s actions were an outrageous display of bias. A man with a turbulent past – and a clear agenda. With shockingly little intervention from the judge.
After the jurors left, Kenniff asked the judge to declare a mistrial.
“There is no way at this point that my client can receive anything resembling a fair trial given what has transpired in recent days,” Kenniff said.
I don’t think he can either. Not in this climate.
