Daniel Penny, the veteran that he was acquitted of negligent homicide to Jordan Neely’s subway suffocation death, has been invited by Vice President-elect JD Vance to join Donald Trump’s suite at the Army-Navy football game in Maryland on Saturday. Vance said Penny, 26, has accepted his invitation.
Penny, a Navy veteran, was found not guilty earlier this week of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023. A more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter was dismissed last week The vice president-elect invited Penny to be his personal guest at Saturday’s party in Landover, Maryland, a source familiar with the invitation told CBS News. Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, has said that “justice was served” in the case, and Penny should not have been prosecuted in the first place.
“Daniel is a good guy, and the NY mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I am grateful that he has accepted my invitation and I hope he can have fun and appreciate how his fellow citizens admire his courage.”
Among those attending Saturday’s iconic match with Trump are billionaire Elon Musk, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen.-elect David McCormick of Pennsylvania.
Passengers said Neely had not touched anyone but had expressed a desire to die, go to jail or even kill. The former street artist was homeless, suffered from schizophrenia and had synthetic marijuana in his system. He had been convicted of assaulting people in subway stations, but was released after serving a prison sentence.
The Army-Navy football game is an annual tradition dating back to 1890. It’s a hot ticket this year, in part because the game is close to Washington, DC, and because both teams have strong records this year . The rivalry between the two military branches ignites strong feelings on both sides.
“Now, tomorrow, there’s a little thing called the Army-Navy game,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters at Thursday’s House briefing white “We wish both sides a good match. We thank them for their service now, of course, at these service academies and for their service in the future. We don’t officially take sides here at the National Security Council, but ‘Go Navy.’ , Beat Army”.
Last year, the Army Black Knights beat the Navy Midshipmen, 17-11. In the history of the game, Navy has won 62 games to Army’s 55, with seven draws.