The former U.S. Marine accused of killing a man last year when he placed him in a chokehold on the subway for about six minutes will not testify at his own criminal trial.

For weeks, Daniel Penny has sat quietly in the courtroom as prosecutors and defense attorneys have questioned other passengers who were on the subway that day, along with police, medical experts and several of Penny’s loved ones. On Friday afternoon, Penny’s attorneys rested their case without putting their client on the witness stand.

Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. Prosecutors and the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy say Penny killed him by holding his arm around Neely’s neck for too long with too much force for him to survive. Defense attorneys and a forensic pathologist they hired say other factors could have caused Neely’s death, including a genetic trait, his schizophrenia and the synthetic cannabinoids in his system.

Jurors will have to decide whether prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Penny’s chokehold caused Neely’s death and that his actions were not justified. They’re expected to hear closing statements and start deliberations after Thanksgiving.

Neely died on May 1, 2023, after boarding an uptown F train on the Lower East Side. Witnesses who were on the train testified that Neely yelled that he was hungry, thirsty and willing to die or go to jail. Several told jurors that they were extremely scared and that Neely’s behavior went beyond the typical subway outburst. Just seconds after Neely walked onto the subway, Penny wrapped his arm around Neely, pulled him to the floor and held him in a chokehold for about six minutes. A bystander recorded part of the encounter, and the video went viral.

Penny has said he was trying to restrain Neely until police arrived, to protect himself and other subway riders. Jurors watched videos of him speaking to police on the subway and at a nearby NYPD precinct, in which he said he was “just trying to de-escalate the situation” and “felt the need to step in.” He also called Neely a “crackhead” and told detectives that Neely “was acting like a lunatic, like a crazy person.”

What we know about Daniel Penny

Since the video of Penny holding Neely in a chokehold swept the Internet, the 26-year-old West Islip native has been described alternately by New Yorkers as a hero and a vigilante. It will be up to jurors to determine whether he acted reasonably on the train, or whether he went too far. Because Penny won’t be testifying, the jury will have to rely on other people’s statements about him, as well as his own words to police on the day Neely died.

Defense attorneys brought several of Penny’s friends and family to court this week to speak about his character. They said he is honest, empathetic and a person with integrity.

Penny’s childhood friend, Alexandra Fay, said they grew up on the same block and have been close friends since they were kids. She described Penny as “very calm and peaceful.”

“He’s always been so kind,” Fay said. “If anything, extra kind. It stands out.”

Penny’s mother, Gina Maria Flaim-Penny, said her son grew up surfing in their beachy town on the south shore of Long Island. She said Penny played the upright bass and lacrosse in high school and was an “A+ student” who dreamed of attending the Naval Academy. But when he wasn’t accepted, Flaim-Penny said, he instead enlisted in the Marine Corps.

“I was nervous,” his mother testified. “I know he was capable. But Danny has a very soft side to him.”

Two of Penny’s fellow Marines told jurors that he excelled in the military. Nolan Drylie, one of Penny’s former platoon sergeants, said Penny was “above reproach” and a “meritorious Marine.” When asked if Penny values life, Drylie said yes.

During opening statements, prosecutors conceded that Penny is a “nice young man” who had “very good” intentions. Since Penny won’t take the stand, in their closing arguments prosecutors will likely direct jurors to Penny’s statements to police, both at the Broadway-Lafayette station moments after he put Neely in a chokehold, and again later that day, in a taped interview with detectives at the precinct. Those words could play a pivotal role in jurors’ deliberations, as they try to assess whether Penny acted reasonably or recklessly.

“This case is not about a person’s character,” Assistant District Attorney said in court earlier this week. “This case is about his actions on that day.”

On that F train , prosecutors have said, Penny ignored Neely’s humanity. They said Penny should have known holding Neely in a chokehold for as long as he did could have killed him.

“I had him pretty good,” he told police at the Broadway-Lafayette station, according to body camera footage shown in court. “I was in the Marine Corps.”

When Penny spoke with detectives at the precinct later that day, he laughed and smiled at times. He said he was studying engineering and architecture but missed the camaraderie of the Marines. At one point, he compared his actions on the train to those of police officers.

“I wasn’t trying to injure anyone. I was just trying to keep him from anybody else. He’s threatening people,” Penny told the detectives. “That’s what we learned in the Marine Corps. That’s what you guys learned, isn’t it, as police officers. It’s the same thing, if you’re off duty, you’re gonna intervene.”

Penny told detectives that he put Neely in a chokehold because Neely was making threats and it seemed like he meant them. He said Neely was “just a crackhead” and “acting like a lunatic, like a crazy person.”

“These guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff,” he said.

Penny said he was trying to de-escalate the situation — not hurt Neely.

“I’m not a confrontational guy. And I’m not, I’m not out here trying to attack people,” he said. “That’s not me, not how I was trained.”