Daniel Penny’s mom joins Marine vets to vouch for his character on stand: ‘Beyond reproach’
Daniel Penny’s mom told Manhattan jurors Tuesday she tried to instill values of “honesty, humility and kindness” in her son — as other kin and pals continued to vouch for his character at his manslaughter trial.
Gina Flaim-Penny embraced her embattled son on their way into Manhattan Supreme Court — and once on the stand, replied, “Yes” when asked if the 26-year-old Marine veteran has a reputation as an “honest person” and “empathetic and compassionate individual.”
“As a mother, you love your son. No mom wants to see anything bad happen to their child?” Penny’s lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, asked the mom during her brief testimony.
“Oh, my God, yes, of course,” Flaim-Penny responded.
Defense lawyers also called to the stand two Marines who served with Penny — who is accused of putting berserk straphanger Jordan Neely in a chokehold and “recklessly” fatally restraining him on an F train in May 2023.
Penny’s former platoon sergeant, Nolan Drylie, told jurors that Penny received a humanitarian medal during his time in the Marine Corps.
Penny’s conduct as a Marine was “beyond reproach,” he testified.
When Drylie was asked whether Marines are taught to “value human life or devalue it,” he responded, “Value it.”
Gunnery Sgt. Nathaniel Dunchie, who is still on active duty, was asked whether Penny embodies the Marine Corp’s “values.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Dunchie responded.
“I knew everything I asked him to do would be done correctly and the right way.”
Prosecutors confronted Drylie during cross-examination about a social-media post in which he appeared to encourage Penny supporters to ride their motorcycles to New York City to protest the defendant’s arrest.
Penny’s lawyers also put on the stand one of his friends, who he met surfing on Long Island’s beaches.
“I saw Danny at the beach once, and we caught a few waves, and the second time we exchanged phone numbers,” testified Steven Strachan, a pilot who lives in Suffolk County.
“At the age of 33, it’s a bit hard to make friends, so I appreciated it.”
The defense spent the afternoon also questioning forensic psychiatrist Alexander Bardey, who told the court he’d reviewed thousands of pages of medical records from Neely.
Neely reported to doctors during his 2021 hospitalization for schizophrenia that he’d heard the “devil’s voice,” according to a copy of a record shown to jurors.
A witness earlier in the trial described Neely’s rant on the subway car that day as “satanic,” and other straphangers have said they feared for their lives and for their small children during the dead man’s rampage through the train.
Evidence shows that Neely was not armed. Several eyewitnesses testified that Neely was threatening passengers but had not touched anyone before Penny took him down in the chokehold.
Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter for the caught-on-camera fatal encounter.
