Ex-LI Marine To Stand Trial For NYC Straphanger's Death: Report

NEW YORK CITY — Daniel Penny, the ex-Marine accused of killing Jordan Neely when he put him in a 15-minute chokehold on a New York City subway train last year, will stand trial in October after pleading not guilty to manslaughter, according to a report.

Penny's trial will begin Oct. 8, ABC News reported, citing a ruling by Judge Maxwell Wiley. The decision came two months after Wiley denied Penny's motion to dismiss the manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges against him.

The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks, ABC News reported.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment when contacted by Patch.

Penny, of West Islip, put Neely in a minutes-long chokehold after the Michael Jackson impersonator with a history of mental illness made threats to other passengers aboard an F train last May.

A widely seen video shows Penny continue to hold Neely even after 30-year-old Neely stopped moving.

Penny previously said he acted to protect himself and others, but attorneys for Neely's family argued that Penny, as a trained Marine, had options for how he acted on the subway train other than cutting off Neely's air.

NYPD officers took Penny into custody after Neely's death but released him without charges, a decision that the city's police watchdog is investigating, according to previous reports.

At January's hearing to dismiss charges against Penny, his attorneys tried to argue that evidence presented to a grand jury — including a death certificate that states Neely's death was caused by a chokehold — didn't justify the charges against him.

But the judge disagreed.

"The evidence was legally sufficient to establish that defendant's actions caused the death of Neely," an order from Wiley said.