Tipsheet

Justice: The Anti-Racist Acquittal of Daniel Penny

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  December 10, 2024 10:25 AM

Daniel Penny has been acquitted by a New York jury, putting an end to an outrageously abusive -- and I believe racist -- persecution by Manhattan's tainted District Attorney.  The jury appeared to be hung over the most serious charge against Penny, which the judge in the case dismissed last week.  Rather than choosing to convict Penny on the remaining lower charge, jurors instead returned a 'not guilty' verdict, securing justice for an innocent man.  In my view, Penny didn't merely 'do nothing wrong;' he affirmatively did the right and even heroic thing, for which racial and political ideologues tried to punish him.  They've failed, thank God.  It's a disgrace that they even tried.  In response to the trial's outcome, one of the worst people in lefty media (who is also one of the leading voices for the morally-defective "pro-Palestinian" cause) tried to racialize it, earning a rebuke from Piers Morgan:


Morgan was certainly right to upbraid Hasan, who is unfailingly and toxically wrong about virtually everything.  But I actually don't agree that this "has nothing to do with skin color."  Hasan's lazy challenge is an easy one to think through, from my perspective.  If a white repeat violent offender was high on drugs and threatening innocent people on a subway car, and a brave ex-Marine -- who happened to be black -- subdued him, I'd wager that virtually every Penny defender would have taken the exact same side.  If that ex-Marine had been criminally prosecuted for his actions, given all the evidence that has emerged, and in light of the witnesses who were thankful for Penny's valor, there would have been a similar backlash against the charging authorities. Sadly and disgustingly, it's a different racial counter-factual that truly applies here:


If both parties in this tragic episode had been white, or black, or Hispanic (or if the deceased individual had been white), I am convinced the charges would not have been brought.  Indeed, Bragg is infamous for not pursuing or soft-pedaling prosecutions against actual criminals, while exploiting his authority in targeting ideologically disfavored defendants. It was this particular racial dynamic that spurred Bragg to try to put Penny in prison, which is the opposite of blind justice. Longtime New York-based federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said my analysis on this point hit a "bullseye," noting that prosecutors from Bragg's office gratuitously referred to Penny by his skin color during their courtroom arguments.  The jury, blessedly, wasn't manipulated by these grotesque tactics, touching off fury among some of our society's worst race-baiters and grievance-mongers.  These people repesent Bragg's core constituency and fellow travelers:


These are hateful bigots and racists, pure and simple.  They see an ally in Alvin Bragg, and enemies not only on this jury, but among white people generally.  Said jury, incidentally, was not all-white.  Quite the contrary.  It was majority-female and boasted four people of color:  

In late October 2024, a 12-person jury and four alternates were selected and sworn in. They included seven women and five men, with at least seven White people, one Hispanic person, one Filipino person, one Black person and one person of Middle Eastern descent.

Their acquittal verdict, based on facts and evidence, was unanimous.  People are sick of crime and deranged people terrorizing law-abiding people in public, a sentiment shared widely, across racial lines.  It's part of the reason Donald Trump won the election and made major inroads among minority demographics, very much including within New York City itself.  People of good will consider a scenario like this -- especially with the knowledge that the deceased individual in the exchange had drugs in his system, was deeply mentally ill, and had recently punched an elderly woman in the face -- and look favorably and gratefully upon Penny's willingness to intervene.  That's why several witnesses of color testified on his behalf or told police that he'd acted heroically.  On that front I'll leave you with this.  It would have been an utter travesty if this man had been convicted.  Congratulations to jurors for saving this man from that unjust fate:

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