Kyle Rittenhouse Congratulates Daniel Penny After Acquittal In Subway Killing: 'NOT GUILTY'

Kyle Rittenhouse has taken to social media to congratulate former Marine Daniel Penny on being acquitted of criminally negligent homicide following the death of Jordan Neely on the subway in New York City.

"Congratulations on your NOT GUILTY Daniel Penny!!!!" wrote Rittenhouse on X (formerly Twitter).

Penny had initially been charged with second-degree manslaughter charge, but it was dismissed by Judge Maxwell Wiley upon request of the prosecutors. This occurred after the jury was deadlocked twice on the charge.

Penny then faced a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, carrying a maximum penalty of four years in prison. On Monday, he was acquitted of this charge.

In May of 2023, 30-year-old Jordan Neely, who faced homelessness and mental illness, died in a subway car after being put into a chokehold by Penny. Neely boarded and began screaming at other passengers, stating that he did not care if he died. Penny placed him into a chokehold and restrained him for several minutes before letting go.

Neely was later declared dead.

"I wasn't trying to injure him," Penny said in an interview with NYPD investigators shortly after the incident. "I'm just trying to keep him from hurting anybody else. He was threatening."

Rittenhouse himself shot three men, killing two, in Kenosha, Wisconsin during protests against the killing of Jacob Blake, an African American man who was shot to death by police.

Similarly to Penny's circumstances, Rittenhouse's attorneys argued that his actions were conducted in self-defense or in defense of others that many have been at risk of harm.