Marine veteran Daniel Penny's defense team is eyeing a malicious prosecution lawsuit against District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others behind the charges, turning the tables after the lengthy high-profile case concluded with an acquittal.
"Just like Danny said in his interview, it was like they wanted to try and get him on something," Penny's defense attorney Steven Raiser said Wednesday, reacting to the acquittal on "Fox & Friends."
"They knew they weren't going to be able to get him, so they had to get rid of that top count in order to get to that second count, just in hopes that maybe they could pull out a win here, and they were unsuccessful, thank God."
DANIEL PENNY HITS NYC BAR FOR POST-ACQUITTAL CELEBRATION, LETS LAWYERS DO THE TALKING
Raiser said the suit would target Bragg for "blurring" the "ethical lines" with the case's handling. The filing would also home in on the medical examiner's office, which he alleged colluded with Bragg's office.
"The record was made fairly clear as to the extent of his involvement and what occurred here," he said. "He was appointed by Mayor Adams, [who belongs to the] same political party as Alvin Bragg. There was collusion there, and the collusion began from the very beginning of this case and all the way through. The district attorney needed the medical examiner and needed the medical examiner to act quickly, and he did just that."
Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in 30-year-old homeless man Jordan Neely's death on a New York City subway after he put Neely in a chokehold for threatening other passengers.
DANIEL PENNY FOUND NOT GUILTY IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL
The manslaughter charge was dropped at the prosecution's request on Friday after jurors failed to reach a unanimous agreement twice, setting the stage for deliberations on the lesser, and arguably easier to prove, charge of criminally negligent homicide on Monday.
After a brief return to deliberations, jurors found Penny not guilty.
In a sit-down interview with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro after the trial concluded, Penny said he didn't regret his actions and that he "couldn't live with" himself if he had allowed Neely to hurt someone.
