Good News From New York City

On Monday, The New York Post reported:

A Manhattan jury has cleared Daniel Penny of criminal wrongdoing in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a crowded subway — a caught-on-video killing that sparked fierce debate over the city’s mental health system and crime underground.

The panelists acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide — which could have put him behind bars for up to four years — in Neely’s chokehold death aboard a crowded uptown F train in May 2023.

Manslaughter, the top charge against Penny, was tossed on Friday after jurors twice said they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.

Jurors sided with Penny’s defense attorneys, who had argued that the Marine veteran was justified in rushing to protect his fellow subway straphangers when he subdued the erratic homeless man. The lawyers had also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence that the chokehold caused Neely’s death.

This is wonderful news. Basically, the story is that a heroic former Marine saved a subway car full of innocent travelers from possible serious harm at the hands of someone who belonged in a mental institution. I pray that if I ever ride the New York City subways again (I rode them to commute to school in the 1960’s), there will be someone like Daniel Penny on the train with me.

Using The Justice System As A Political Weapon

USA Today is reporting today that the criminal conviction of Tom Delay, former House majority leader, has been overturned by a Texas court.

The article reports:

The documents were released Thursday by the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin.

“The evidence was legally insufficient to sustain DeLay‘s convictions,” the documents said. The judges said they “reverse the judgments of the trial court” and acquit DeLay, once one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, of all charges.

The acquittal means DeLay cannot be retried and the money laundering case is over.

This case has been a sham from the beginning. Tom Delay was a very successful House majority leader, and the Democrats worked very hard to remove him from office. It is wonderful to see that justice has finally been served.

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