Fact Check: Can Trump Pardon Daniel Penny After He's Inaugurated?
With a New York jury still deliberating the fate of Daniel Penny, who has been charged in the death of Jordan Neely on a New York subway, some are urging President-elect Donald Trump to pardon the Marine Corps veteran when he takes office next month.
But will Trump have the power to do so when he becomes president?
The short answer is no.
Daniel Penny should be a day one pardon from President Donald Trump.
— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) December 3, 2024
Let’s quickly review the facts of the case. On May 1, 2023, Penny, 26, restrained Neely in a chokehold after he threatened to kill passengers on a New York City subway train, according to witnesses.
Police first questioned and then released Penny, but later, under public pressure, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs’s office charged the college student with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
The jury deadlocked during deliberations this week, so on Friday, presiding Judge Maxwell T. Wiley dismissed the more serious manslaughter charge, which carried a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
That ruling left the criminal negligence homicide charge still in place. There is no minimum jail sentence for that charge, but the sentence can be up to four years.
The jury is slated to return Monday to continue deliberations on the lesser offense.
Both the original charges are state crimes, being tried in a New York City courtroom.
The U.S. president would have no jurisdiction or power to grant a pardon; only the New York governor would.
The relevant provision in the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 2, reads that the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.”
“Offenses against the United States” means federal crimes.
Trump should pardon Daniel Penny and have a statue of him built in New York City
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) December 6, 2024
When President Joe Biden issued a pardon of his son Hunter Biden this week, it was for federal gun and tax charges, as well as other federal crimes he may have committed from 2014 to 2024.
The pardon would not cover Hunter if California chose to charge him for a state crime, such as failure to pay state taxes.
Donald Trump should pardon Daniel Penny on day one. pic.twitter.com/UYz5dNhxi1
— Patrick ☦️(Hail Christ our King) (@ByzCeltPatrick) November 7, 2024
Trump faced two federal and two state prosecutions this year. Special counsel Jack Smith recently filed motions to end the federal prosecutions, knowing full well Trump’s Justice Department would have jurisdiction to do so after his inauguration.
Trump, arguably, could have pardoned himself of the federal crimes, though it would be unprecedented for a president to do so, and courts have never had to rule on the matter.
However, the soon-to-be 47th president cannot pardon himself of the state crimes in his New York business records case or his Georgia election interference case.
Trump had already promised to pardon the J6ers. After Biden’s pardon of his criminal son, what I want is for Trump to pardon Daniel Penny in 2025 and Derek Chauvin in 2028 before he leaves office. pic.twitter.com/QrJDOa4ak3
— Based Latin (@based_latin) December 2, 2024
While Trump cannot pardon Penny, he does have the power to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, who were all charged with federal crimes.
He has signaled a willingness to pardon most of them.
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