Daniel Penny’s attorney fights against narrative that the US Marine veteran wanted to kill anyone

AP Photo/Jeenah Moon

In an exchange on "The Story" with Martha MacCallum this Monday, Thomas Kenniff, the lawyer defending Daniel Penny, strongly refuted allegations from Jordan Neely's family lawyer suggesting that Penny believed he had the right to end someone's life.

The intense discussion unfolded around Penny's interview with the New York Post concerning an incident with Neely that occurred at the dawn of this month in a New York City subway.

MacCallum brought Kenniff's attention to a statement made by the Neely family, which, in essence, questioned why Penny maintained his chokehold until Jordan was lifeless. The family further queried why Penny believed he had the authority to end a life, even of someone who was homeless and mentally ill.

Thomas Kenniff, an attorney for Daniel Penny, says it's obviously absurd to claim his client wanted to kill anyone. pic.twitter.com/u0dLk7y5BG

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) May 22, 2023

Remaining undeterred by the grave allegations, Kenniff dismissed the notion of engaging in a media skirmish with the opposing counsel. He asserted, “It’s absurd to say that Danny Penny thought he had the right to take anyone else’s life and intended to take anyone’s life."

He highlighted the circumstances of the incident, framing it as an unwanted predicament in which his client, a regular New Yorker, found himself entangled.

Kenniff elaborated that Penny took what he deemed as rational steps to suppress someone who had instigated a threatening atmosphere on the subway.

“This was a situation where my client, who is just an everyday New Yorker, was put in a situation that none of us would want to be in and took reasonable steps to try to subdue someone who had introduced a frightening, threatening environment into that subway train,” he said.