Troy Nehls: Daniel Penny Case Is Example Of 'Left-Wing DAs' Criminalizing 'Obvious Self-Defense'

3/20/2025

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) spoke about the case of Jordan Neely, a homeless man in New York City who was killed after Daniel Penny put him in a chokehold. Daniel Penny was found not guilty of negligent homicide.

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Transcript

00:00This is not a second amendment. Your time is expired, sir. Thank you.

00:03I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Nelson.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Kiley, thank you for your questions.

00:09You think about California. Well, it's California. You figured that.

00:13You know, as an old sheriff from Fort Bend County, Texas, we love the great state of Texas.

00:18You come into the great state of Texas, you start waving a gun around and threatening our citizens,

00:24or you break into a home in the state of Texas,

00:28you're leaving in a bag. You will leave in a bag.

00:34And as a sheriff, many did. Breaking into people's homes, their castles, threatening, scaring people.

00:44That's California for you, but I tell you, not in the great state of Texas, we won't allow it.

00:49First, I want to ask about the effect of left-wing DAs charging people with crimes

00:53for engaging in obvious self-defense or defense of others.

00:57Mr. Daniel Penny, his name comes to mind as a recent example.

01:02Last year, Mr. Penny restrained Jordan Neely on the New York City subway

01:06after Neely continued to threaten women and children on the train,

01:11which unfortunately resulted in his death.

01:13I'm sure that Mr. Penny didn't want to have to take the man's life.

01:18Nobody wants to do that.

01:21Although this was an obvious case of self-defense of others,

01:23Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg charged Penny with manslaughter,

01:28likely due to public pressure from the left-wing radicals,

01:33who felt Mr. Neely should have been allowed,

01:35be allowed to threaten women and children with impunity.

01:39And even though the jury came to an obvious outcome of a full acquittal,

01:42didn't take long, a full acquittal, the damage to Mr. Penny had already been done.

01:48He had been through an 18-month ordeal in which his name and reputation

01:52had drug him through the mud.

01:54So the government, the media's message to New Yorkers was clear.

01:57Dare to protect your fellow citizens, and we will destroy your life.

02:03You know, the old good Samaritan.

02:05Do you have good Samaritans out there anymore?

02:07You may not have them anymore.

02:09Why would anybody do it when you have nut jobs like Alvin Bragg and others

02:13that want to go after and make the individual that wants to help other people,

02:18he's all of a sudden the suspect?

02:21Mr. McDermott, do these kinds of political prosecutions

02:25deter people from coming to the defense of others?

02:28And how does that put at risk vulnerable populations

02:32like women and children and the elderly?

02:34And in other words, how important is it?

02:37How important is it for us to have a society

02:39where people feel empowered to come to the defense of the vulnerable, Mr. McDermott?

02:46Obviously, the question answers itself.

02:48It's extremely important.

02:50We have a number of different problems.

02:51First off, many people recognize the right to defend themselves,

02:55and very often they disregard the right to defend others

02:58as happened in that particular case.

03:01There are certain uniform, I would say, rules in this space.

03:07There are certain things that you see repeating themselves very often.

03:09For example, my clients that are being charged with very serious charges,

03:15the majority of these clients, the vast majority of these clients,

03:18close to all of them, have no criminal backgrounds.

03:21Yet the victims that are being...

03:24The complaining witnesses in these cases do have backgrounds.

03:27They have violent backgrounds.

03:28I have a client right now that's in custody,

03:30that will not release from custody because she's been determined...

03:33It's been determined that she's a danger to society.

03:36She's a grandmother.

03:37She's protecting herself.

03:38She's protecting her daughter.

03:39She's protecting her 75-year-old mother from two grown men

03:42that were beating on them, and she's being charged.

03:44So this is happening just far too often.

03:47Thank you, Mr. McDermott.

03:48I got one question, a minute left.

03:49Talk about the Second Amendment, uniformity in the Second Amendment.

03:53Based on the current laws of the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, for example,

03:57a Pennsylvania resident could receive an 18-month prison sentence

04:00and a $10,000 fine simply for possessing a knife in New Jersey

04:05that he is legally allowed to have in Pennsylvania.

04:08So, Mr. Ritter, how do you think that is in the spirit of the Second Amendment?

04:12How does the lack of uniformity among states,

04:16even in what kind of knife one can carry, degrade the right to self-defense?

04:22So, the issue is, under Bruin,

04:30there really is no defense for creating a ban on a particular kind of knife

04:37because all of these knives are common.

04:39All of these knives are, quite frankly, less dangerous than a firearm.

04:45The purpose of my bill is to ensure that if someone from your great state of Texas

04:51is going to the great state of New Hampshire and has to pass through New Jersey,

04:56that they can do so without risk of being in prison

05:00for simply carrying a knife that's legal at both the start and the finish of their journey,

05:06as long as they lock it up.

05:08This is about protecting your constituents.

05:10Thank you, Mr. Ritter. With that, I yield back.

Troy Nehls: Daniel Penny Case Is Example Of 'Left-Wing DAs' Criminalizing 'Obvious Self-Defense'

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