Activist prosecutor in Daniel Penny trial draws scrutiny
By newseditors // 2024-12-05
Copy
 
Dafna Yoran, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney prosecuting Daniel Penny for defending a train full of passengers from a violent schizophrenic, is a far-left activist driven by revenge fantasies against "Nazis," according to a profile shared by GO Magazine. (Article by Chris Menahan republished from InformationLiberation.com) From Go Magazine's "100 Women We Love":
Her track record would make any guilty defendant tremble. Dafna Yoran, Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan has investigated and prosecuted scores of the city's most high profile and notorious homicides. Dafna's commitment to holding killers accountable is fueled by a sense of responsibility as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, with grandparents murdered by Nazis. In 2019, she had the opportunity to prosecute Neo Nazi James Harris Jackson, a Hitler fan who said he came to NYC with the intention of killing Black men, and murdered Timothy Caughman. It was the first time a white supremacist was prosecuted as a domestic terrorist in the U.S. "This prosecution closed a circle for me: I got to hold a Nazi accountable for killing an innocent person," the Senior Trial Counsel says. But her idea of holding people accountable doesn't necessarily mean prison time. When she prosecuted Matthew Lee for inadvertently killing an elderly professor while robbing him at an ATM, she felt that "a long prison sentence was not appropriate under these circumstances and determined to resolve the case in a different way." In collaboration with the victim’s family who "got to see the defendant as a human being, not the monster they imagined," she successfully spearheaded the first Restorative Justice case in a NYC homicide. Yoran, wife of Peruvian artist Ana De Orbegoso, began her career at a time when the unspoken rule was "women had to wear skirts in court." Yoran said to her boss, "Do you want me to wear a skirt or do you want me to think, because I can't do both at the same time! I was then the first woman to wear a pants suit on trial in New York County."
Another bio of hers from the Film Forum carries the same theme: "In 2019, [Dafna Yoran] gave a reduced sentence to a black man who murdered an Asian college professor as he was withdrawing cash from an ATM," Greg Price commented on X. "She said that it was under the guise of 'restorative justice' and ended up giving him 10 years for manslaughter after he was originally charged with murder." "Now she's attempting to imprison an innocent man who protected a group of people on the subway." Not surprisingly, Yoran is trying to secure a conviction against Penny by playing up the fact he's white and the violent schizophrenic he allegedly killed was black. From The Daily Mail, "Daniel Penny prosecutors show shocking evidence to jury before they begin deliberations - as former Marine stands accused of killing homeless man Jordan Neely":
Assistant DA Yoran on Tuesday warned the jury their verdict should not rely upon whether they themselves would be grateful for Penny's intervention, or weigh testimony from the Marine veteran's loved ones that he is a 'good man.' 'What is so tragic about this case, is that even though the defendant started out doing the right thing… a man died,' she said. 'He was given all the signs he needed to stop. He ignored them. He must be held accountable for that.' She continued: 'You're not here to decide whether you'd want to ride alone on the train with Jordan Neely. 'That is not what this case is about. The only thing you need to determine here is whether or not the evidence here proves the defendant killed Jordan Neely.'
Yeah, just ignore the fact he was defending everyone on the train! That's not relevant to the case!
Yoran implored the jury to find Penny guilty of manslaughter – a charge which carries a maximum term of 15 years behind bars. She told jurors in great detail how Mr Neely 'clawed at his own neck with his nails' as he fought against the chokehold in those crucial first few minutes, before ultimately urinating on himself and losing consciousness. She described the negligent homicide charge – the lesser of the two – as essentially a fallback charge which should be applied if the jury is not convinced Penny committed manslaughter. 'You, the jurors, should unequivocally state with your verdict that no person's life can be so unjustifiably snuffed out,' she said.
Go ahead and snuff Penny's life out though so Yoran here can get another conviction of a "Nazi" to satisfy her revenge fantasies!
'If the defendant is not justified in killing Mr Neely, then killing him is a crime. But what crime is it? Manslaughter in the 2nd degree is a reckless killing – not intentional.' Yoran told jurors being 'reckless' in this case, requires Penny to have been aware his actions put Mr Neely at 'substantial risk of death.' 'You have to be aware, and that what you're doing is a major departure from what a reasonable person would do,' she said.
Yoran sought to use Penny's service to our country against him:
Ms Yafna also cited Penny's Marine Corps training, arguing that he should have had a clearer understanding of the risks of his actions given his military experience. 'Beyond that, she said it is 'common sense.' 'We all know we need air to breathe and that it goes through your throat. 'You know how fragile throats are. It's hard to imagine that there is anyone out there who wouldn't be aware of that possibility – if not probability.' While Yafna argued she does not have to prove a motive, she said it was clear based on the evidence that Penny had overlooked Mr Neely's 'humanity.' She shared footage from Penny's police interview in which he repeatedly referred to Neely as 'just a crackhead.'
At the time, Penny did not know Neely was dead. He also was not aware that police had brought in the District Attorney's office, who were behind double-sided glass and instructing police which questions to ask, according to the defense. But Yoran said it was telling that Penny never once asked about Neely's wellbeing during this interview. 'During his whole interview, the defendant never says 'oh hey, how is that guy doing? Is he okay? Did he make it?' Imagine not even caring enough to ask that. 'The defendant, as empathetic as he may be, seems to have a real blind spot for Mr Neely,' she said. 'Maybe we, too, have othered them. Lumping them all together like this the way he does. But the context is telling here. 'When the defendant is talking like this, he knows he very likely killed him. Can you imagine a reasonable person speaking like this about a human being that he or she had just killed? 'There is something else that is glaringly missing in this statement. Any regret. Any remorse. Any self-reflection of 'maybe I went too far.'
Yoran is ultimately just urging the jury to find Penny guilty of being white -- the ultimate high crime in the New America™. As we saw with the similar political persecutions of Ian Cranston and Derek Chauvin, she very well may succeed. Read more at: InformationLiberation.com
Copy