Penny, a Marine veteran, was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide by a Manhattan jury this week.
Daniel Penny, the man acquitted this week of criminally negligent homicide while restraining a threatening passenger on a New York subway, accepted Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s invitation to the annual rivalry game on Dec. 14 between the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy.
“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” wrote Vance on X, referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“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.”
Nonprofit media outlet News of the United States first reported on Vance inviting Penny as his guest to the game.
Penny, a Marine veteran, was found not guilty on Dec. 9 by a Manhattan jury of criminally negligent homicide stemming from a May 2023 incident in which Penny was riding the F Train as Jordan Neely, a homeless man, boarded the subway and allegedly threatened passengers.
A more serious charge, manslaughter in the second degree, was dismissed by Judge Maxwell Wiley after the jury failed to come to a unanimous verdict.
Neely “stood in the middle of the train car, and then he started yelling that he didn’t have food, that he didn’t have water,” freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez, who shot footage of the incident, told New York Magazine that month.
The homeless man, said Vázquez, “was yelling that he was tired, that he didn’t care about going to jail.” He also threw his jacket on the ground, prompting people around him to move away as “he kept standing there and he kept yelling.” That was when Penny put Neely in a chokehold.
In an interview with Fox News following the trial, Penny said that while it is normal to hear yelling on the subway, this was different.
“There’s outbursts on the train all the time,” he said. “Unfortunately, in New York City, there’s always people coming on and saying, kind of, talking crazy, and this was unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced. It was very serious. I completely believed what he was saying.”
Penny expressed no regret for what he did.
“I would not be able to live with myself if I didn’t do anything in that situation and someone got hurt,” he said. “I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.”
The Army-Navy game will be held at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, at 3 p.m. (ET). Navy leads the series, which began in 1890, 62-55-7.
Playing in the American Athletic Conference, Army’s overall record this season is 11–1. The team’s conference record is 8–0.
Navy, which also plays in the conference, enters with an 8–3 overall record and a 6–2 conference record.