(NEW YORK) — Daniel Penny, the man who choked a homeless man to death last May on a New York City subway car, will stand trial beginning Oct. 8, a judge determined Wednesday.
The trial will take between four and six weeks, according to Judge Max Wiley.
Penny has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with Jordan Neely’s death.
Penny, a former Marine, put Neely in a fatal chokehold “that lasted approximately six minutes and continued well past the point at which Mr. Neely had stopped purposeful movement,” prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have said.
His attorneys have claimed Neely was “insanely threatening” aboard the F train.
An attorney for Neely’s family said the family is holding out hope for justice.
“Andre Zachary and Jordan Neely’s family are still suffering,” their attorney, Lennon Edwards, said. “Justice has not been served yet but we’re holding onto hope justice will be done.”
Edwards called Penny a “judge, jury and executioner” aboard the subway car.
“Jordan was unarmed. He was hungry. He asked for food. And in his desperation he was emotional but distressed does not mean dangerous,” Edwards said.
Penny and his attorneys left without comment, but released a statement to ABC News.
“While we still hold out hope that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will see the injustice in continuing this prosecution, we are preparing to defend Mr. Penny at trial and have every confidence that he will be fully exonerated,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff said in the statement.
“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, Penny’s lawyers, said in a previous statement. “Danny is grateful for the continued prayers and support through this difficult process.”
Penny’s attorneys have said that he was defending himself and others when he put Neely into the chokehold that caused his death.
Some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train, authorities said.
Police sources previously told ABC News that Penny was not specifically being threatened by Neely when he intervened and that Neely had not become violent and had not been threatening anyone in particular.
A court date has been scheduled for Sept. 17 for a hearing to suppress statements Penny made to investigators prior to his arrest.
A judge denied Penny’s bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.
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