It wasn’t a chokehold that killed Jordan Neely.
That was the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. Satish Chundru for the protection — and he was fairly rattling convincing.
Or at the least efficient at sowing cheap doubt that Daniel Penny’s maneuver triggered Neely’s dying on an uptown F prepare on Might 1, 2023.
On the stand, Chundru calmly and confidently defined why metropolis health worker Dr. Cynthia Harris was unsuitable in declaring that Neely died of the chokehold.
Chundru, who had beforehand labored as a health worker in each Austin and Miami, known as her findings, “speculative.” He added that it was “surprising” they rendered their ruling in solely two days.
Harris got here to her conclusion earlier than the toxicology report got here again, saying even when it turned out that Neely had sufficient fentanyl in him “to place down an elephant” she nonetheless would have caught along with her authentic resolution.
Chundru was easy and easy in his rationalization: A chokehold dying is mainly a two half course of.
“Part one is unconsciousness; it’s important to put sufficient constant stress to render the particular person unconscious,” Chundru mentioned. “Part two is it’s important to maintain that stress for an prolonged time period that results in dying.”
Chundru mentioned Neely had already expired or was going by way of the dying course of when he went limp. Prosecutors say Penny held Neely in a chokehold for 51 seconds after he handed out.
However Chundru mentioned, “Neely by no means went unconscious earlier than that, which is what you want if it’s a chokehold dying.”
So what did kill him? Chundru mentioned it was the “mixed results” of artificial marijuana in any other case often called K2, schizophrenia, his battle and restraint, and sickle cell disaster, an usually painful and distressing occasion, the place cells change form and block blood vessels.
Harris was by far the best witness for the prosecution, which put forth a roster of bystanders, who mentioned they’ve by no means skilled that kind of terror on a subway when Neely, a homeless man with a historical past of drug use and psychological sickness boarded the uptown F prepare and began ranting that he was going to “kill.” One girl advised the jury that she even thanked Penny for his actions that day.
Harris withstood three days on the stand, a grueling course of that may have examined essentially the most elite of consideration spans.
Throughout a morning break in Chundru’s testimony, prosecutors huddled with Harris, who sat within the second row taking notes, and held a really intense confab.
Solely the jury is aware of the way it went over, however I assumed Chundru did an excellent job at poking these mandatory holes within the prosecution’s case.
However after a morning of discussing of blood chokes, air chokes and arteries, the prosecution went straight for Chundru’s jugular throughout a combative cross examination.
Manhattan Assistant District Lawyer Dafna Yoran tried to color him as a lower than discerning employed gun who carried out far too many autopsies and earned a great deal of cash for his providers. She identified that he’s commonly employed by protection attorneys to refute the prosecution. (He mentioned it was about 60 p.c of the instances he took on).
Chundru was unapologetic saying he labored exhausting and added that his “enterprise is doing properly.”
Yoran pressed the forensic pathologist, asking if he thinks he is aware of higher than NYC Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner, asking: “You realize that is the largest Medical Examiner within the nation?”
“They’ve misplaced half their workers,” Chundru countered.
A really feisty and dogged Yoran pulled sections from a textbook written by his mentor, to refute a few of his testimony, however Chundru remained unflappable on the stand, each on Thursday and Friday.
The trial resumes subsequent week.
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