By Nathan Layne
(Reuters) - Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine who restrained a New York City subway rider with a chokehold and was this week acquitted of homicide in his death, will attend Saturday's Army-Navy football game as Vice President-elect JD Vance's guest.
Vance said in an X post on Friday that Penny had accepted his invitation to join him for the storied matchup, which garners the national spotlight every year. President-elect Donald Trump will also be at the game in Landover, Maryland.
A Manhattan jury found Penny, 26, not guilty of criminally negligent homicide on Monday in the death of Jordan Neely, who prosecutors acknowledged was agitated and acting in a threatening manner as he boarded an uptown train on May 1, 2023.
The case drew widespread public attention, with some viewing Neely, who was Black, as a victim of a white vigilante. Others, including some Republican politicians, described Penny as a hero for protecting others on the train.
"Daniel's a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance wrote on X.
"I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage," Vance added.
Penny's lawyer, Steven Raiser, confirmed his client would attend the game as Vance's guest.
"He's not viewing it as a political statement. He's viewing it as just basically an honor," Raiser said. "If it were a president in office who was a Democrat, who invited him to the Army-Navy game as a way to show support to the military and for his country, he would have gladly accepted that as well."
Penny has said he never intended to kill Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with a history of mental illness. Penny did not testify during the trial, which began in October. He left the courtroom on Monday without commenting to media.
Prior to Monday's acquittal, a judge had already dismissed a more serious charge, manslaughter in the second degree, after jurors emerged twice during their third day of deliberations to say they were divided on it.