Prosecutor in Daniel Penny case advocated for 'restorative justice' for black man who murdered Asian professor during ATM mugging

Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran is leading the prosecutorial team for Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran accused of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely, a man witnesses say was threatening and terrorizing subway riders before Penny intervened. Yoran, however, has previously been an advocate for "restorative justice." She is not pursuing that kind of justice in Penny's case.

In 2019, Dr. Young Kun Kim, a professor at Lehman College and Upper West Side resident, was murdered during a robbery at an ATM machine on Broadway between 96th and 97th Streets. His killer, Michael Lee, was arrested and charged with murder until Yoran caught the case. The ADA reached out to Kim's family to ask them if they would be willing to pursue "restorative justice," in other words, leniency for the killer.

She had the victim's son meet with the family of the killer and listen to their sob story about what caused Lee to go rob an elderly man of his money before killing him. The victim's son, who at the time was a new father who had just lost his own father, agreed to go along with Yoran's plan, and his father's killer pleaded guilty to manslaughter—not murder—and got a 10-year prison term.

The West Side Rag reported that the DA's office was seeking to continue and expand their "restorative justice program." That program apparently did not extend to Penny, who has been vilified by a progressive press for not taking it easier on the crazed homeless man who was threatening to kill people and telling passengers he didn't care if he died.

Yoran began her closing in the case by claiming that Penny "could easily have restrained Mr. Neely without choking him to death." Penny was aided by other men in restraining Neely, but Yoran stated that "The defendant used way too much force for way too long, in way too reckless of a manner."

In her closing, she also spoke about how she believed that Penny did not recognize Neely's "humanity," indicating that there was a racial element involved, though there are no hate crime charges or allegations in the case. She claimed that he "was so reckless with Neely's life because he didn't seem to recognize his humanity." She criticized Penny for saying that there were homeless men on train platforms who are "pushing people in front of trains and stuff."

Homeless people pushing subway riders to their death in front of oncoming trains has been a problem in New York City, where riders can often be seen leaning against the walls of train platforms in order to not make themselves vulnerable to crazy people.

"He didn't recognize that Jordan Neely was a person," she said, "he saw him as a person that needed to be eliminated." She did not make that argument with Kim's killer, who cravenly robbed and murdered the elderly man as he withdrew cash at the ATM. 

Penny was on an uptown F train in the spring of 2023 when Neely, obviously homeless, got on the train and began threatening people. Women were afraid, hiding their children, and witnesses in the trial said that Neely was "trying to attack everybody." 

A woman who was on the train called 911, saying "He’s trying to attack everybody." She described the attacker, saying "There’s one white man holding him down, holding the homeless guy down." The woman testified, "Penny put his hands around [Neely’s] neck and then dropped him down so he wouldn’t attack anybody."

Another witness said she thought she was going to die after listening to Neely's "satanic" rant. She testified further that Neely had "visibly soiled sweatpants" and was saying "I don’t care if I die. Kill me, lock me up."

For Yoran, the man who protected the riders, who put a stop to the ranting, who detained the crazed man until police arrived, is the problem.