Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office are reportedly asking the judge overseeing Daniel Penny's trial to not let witnesses call the U.S. Marine Corps veteran a "good Samaritan" or a "hero" in court, as jury selection is underway.
According to The Gothamist's reporting on an email exchange between prosecutors and Penny's defense attorneys, Assistant DA Dafna Yoran raised alarm over how witnesses could characterize the defendant after watching an interview Penny's counsel conducted on FOX 5 New York highlighting their client's heroic actions on the subway.
“Danny doesn't have to be a hero," Penny's lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, told the local outlet during a sitdown TV interview last week. "But he's someone who did the right thing. He's someone who stood up for his fellow man, for his fellow New Yorkers. He was put in a difficult situation: either cower and do nothing — when Jordan Neely is descending on a mother and her child in a baby stroller, which is part of the factual narrative of this case — or stand up and try to protect."
According to The Gothamist's reporting on an email exchange between prosecutors and Penny's defense attorneys, Assistant DA Dafna Yoran raised alarm over how witnesses could characterize the defendant after watching an interview Penny's counsel conducted on FOX 5 New York highlighting their client's heroic actions on the subway.
“Danny doesn't have to be a hero," Penny's lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, told the local outlet during a sitdown TV interview last week. "But he's someone who did the right thing. He's someone who stood up for his fellow man, for his fellow New Yorkers. He was put in a difficult situation: either cower and do nothing — when Jordan Neely is descending on a mother and her child in a baby stroller, which is part of the factual narrative of this case — or stand up and try to protect."