Stephen A. Smith: I’m Not Ready to Convict Daniel Penny

Wednesday, during an appearance on FNC’s “Fox News Tonight,” ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith said even though many have made up their minds on the prosecution of Marine veteran Daniel Penny for the New York City chokehold death of a troubled homeless man Jordan Neely, he had not made up his mind.

“Let me ask you this, Stephen A. — I think the world needs more men like Daniel Penny to step up,” host Will Cain said. “What do you think about this encounter between Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely on the subway?”

“Well, it’s unfortunate, and it’s hard to come to a definitive conclusion,” Smith replied. “You listen to Mayor Eric Adams. I applaud the position that he took when he said, let’s find out, let the matter be investigated by the district attorney’s office. Let’s see what that reveals, and then after that, a decision needs to be made. An investigation followed, and obviously, Penny is being charged with manslaughter charges. My position was — this is where it came down to. If you’re skilled enough to know how to put a chokehold on someone, you should be knowledgeable enough to know when enough is enough and to let them go.”

“Having said all of that, again, I don’t know all the facts, so I’m not ready to convict him like a lot of people, politicians and citizens have been so quick to convict this man of that,” he continued. “I think we need to hear all of the evidence. He did have him in a chokehold in excess of three minutes. That seemed a bit excessive, particularly considering that he had two other people helping him, but then again, we need to know more, and that’s when –”

“We’ve got to be careful with Monday morning quarterbacking, right?” Cain interrupted.

“Exactly,” Smith said.

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