Conservative outlets and commentators ripped Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, after the prosecution of U.S. Marine veteran Daniel Penny failed this week.
Multiple pundits condemned Bragg for having "wrongfully persecuted" Penny, who was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the chokehold death of Neely on a Manhattan subway car in May 2023. Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had an active arrest warrant at the time, had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2. Penny grabbed Neely from behind in a chokehold during the incident and Neely later died.
Penny was found not guilty on the second charge, after the first was dismissed the week prior.
Amid the relief Penny’s defenders felt at Monday’s verdict, there was severe criticism of Bragg for bringing the case against the 26-year-old former Marine in the first place.
"Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s effort to persecute Perry failed — and Bragg may, should, pay the ultimate political price for trying," The New York Post editorial board declared on Monday.
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The Post board argued that "Penny never should’ve been dragged into court in the first place," and grilled the D.A., stating, "Bragg did it anyway, playing to his hard-left, race-obsessed base."
"Bragg’s prosecutors also pounded the race card relentlessly at trial, routinely calling Perry ‘the white man’ and imputing racist motives to his actions, even as witness after witness confirmed that the entire car was terrified by Neely’s behavior on that F train," the editorial said. It also called on Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., to "take note, and finally remove Bragg from office."
The editors of the independent outlet, The Free Press, stated in a column that Penny’s not guilty verdict "does not erase the cynical, wrongheaded, and unwarranted prosecution by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg against a Good Samaritan."
The piece continued, stating that this type of unwarranted prosecution is part and parcel of Bragg’s agenda as D.A., which has led to an increase in New York City’s crime overall.
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"Bragg’s tenure has been marked by priorities that don’t serve the public, and a nonchalant attitude toward criminal behavior that has all but guaranteed an increase in crime in New York," the editors wrote.
"In sum, Bragg has made New York a more dangerous city. What’s more, while ignoring real crime, he has gone after politically convenient targets—like Daniel Penny—generating an enormous amount of cynicism among New Yorkers," they added.
Fox News commentator Gregg Jarrett wrote that the "tragic epitaph" of Penny’s trial is that "the larger societal damage that Bragg’s unwarranted case has wrought may be borne by future crime victims in New York and perhaps elsewhere."
"Knowing that an elected district attorney is eager to prosecute well-meaning Samaritans will likely deter them from defending others who are preyed upon. The weak and the vulnerable among us may become easier targets," the legal analyst stated.
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In a statement obtained by The Daily Caller, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned Bragg by saying he was an "absolute catastrophe."
"First, he indicted Donald Trump in a partisan case, and then he indicted Daniel Penny for saving the lives of other subway passengers from a deranged lunatic threatening to kill everyone," Cruz continued.
The lawmaker added that "Penny should sue Bragg for malicious prosecution and hold this rogue Soros prosecutor accountable."
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board declared that Bragg’s case against Penny "should never have been brought" and argued that the not guilty verdict "is a rebuke to Mr. Bragg, who often declines to prosecute genuine criminals but treated Mr. Penny like a dangerous vigilante."
The board added that if Penny was found guilty of either or both of the charges, it "would have transformed a human tragedy into a larger injustice."
