Jordan Neely's dad says he's 'very hurt' by Daniel Penny's not guilty verdict

The jury in the trial of Daniel Penny found him not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely on Monday.

Jury members deliberated for more than 24 hours across five days before reaching the verdict. Judge Maxwell Wiley on Dec. 6 dismissed a more serious second-degree manslaughter charge at the request of prosecutors after jurors said they were deadlocked.

Neely's father, Andre Zachery, was present in the courtroom when the verdict came in, and he was forcibly removed by a court officer after cursing in anger.

He also filed a civil lawsuit against Penny last week, requesting damages "in such sum as a jury may find reasonable, fair, and just."

Zachery and his lawyer, Donte Mills, spoke to ABC News' Linsey Davis after Monday's verdict was issued.

ABC NEWS: Let's bring in Jordan Neely's father, Andre Zachery, and his attorney, Donte Mills. Thank you both so much for joining us on what we know is a very difficult day.

Mr. Zachery, let's start with you. Obviously, you were visibly angry in court today. Just what went through your mind? What were you feeling when you heard that not guilty verdict?

ZACHERY: It hurt me. Very hurt. I just didn't know what to say at the time. But it hurt me to my core, you know, to hear something like that.

ABC NEWS: Was there any time that you thought this might be the outcome?

ZACHERY: I mean, it should be no surprise. Here we are.

ABC NEWS: You said the system is rigged. What? What did you mean by that? And how would...

ZACHERY: I mean, it's been like that for a long time. And that the system could be rigged the way it is.

ABC NEWS: And what do you mean by that? Racially?

ZACHERY: It can be in many ways, different ways. But I'm not going to say racially right now, but it could be in a lot of ways.

MILLS: And we don't want to make this -- this isn't a Black or white issue. This is about everybody mattering. There's some people who look at this and say, Jordan was houseless. He had mental issues, almost as if he deserved this to happen to him. And there's no qualms. We all have problems.

And even with Andre, there were times where he could have been there more for Jordan. That's understandable. But that doesn't mean that Jordan deserved what happened to him, or that you can simply choke someone to death and not be held responsible for it. That's what we want people to understand.

This isn't a white or Black thing. This is all of us. We all have that right to voice when we're feeling something to be heard and for someone to be held accountable if they harm us when they shouldn't.

ABC NEWS: You said it earlier today that you sought out and told the family you were going to get justice. Now you're going to go seek it through civil court. But you just started last week, the civil suit. Give us a sense of, of the timing on that and if you think you might find justice there.

MILLS: We will. I'm telling you we will. The timing is, we started the lawsuit. Not right away. We wanted to see what the evidence was, what the defense was going to be. And when we heard in court [all of the evidence], that's when we began the civil process and filed that lawsuit.

It's going to take some time. It could be a year or two, but we're not going to stop until we do have justice, because that's what our system calls for. We're not in rebellion right now. We're following the rules of our legal system. If you think somebody killed someone and they should not have, we have the right to file a wrongful death suit. That's what we did.

ABC NEWS: From a legal standpoint. What aspect of this do you feel that the jury didn't take into account?

MILLS: That Jordan was a person? That's the only way that you can see this situation and say that he did not deserve the justice that we were seeking on the criminal side. If you don't think he was valuable enough to do it, he the only way you can say that is Jordan was scary. He came on. He scared some people on the train. That could be true.

But at some point, you have to be a human and have humanity and say Daniel Penny could have let go before Jordan died. He continued to choke him 50 seconds after he was lifeless. He continued to choke. And there's no, there's no reason for that. And there's no reason for a jury to say that that's not criminal behavior. It is.

ABC NEWS: Mr. Zachery, tell us about your son. What you miss most about him?

ZACHERY: Well, I miss his voice. I miss being around him. Miss him dancing.

ABC NEWS: If you could talk to Daniel Penny directly, what would you say?

ZACHERY: Why you didn't say you was sorry, man? Come on, man. Why you didn't say nothing?

ABC NEWS: Would that have mattered?

ZACHERY: It sure would have.

ABC NEWS: Mr. Zachery, I'm sure it's not the same, but we do want to say we're sorry for the loss of your son. And we thank you both so much for taking the time to come on and talk with us today.

MILLS: Thank you.

ZACHERY: Thank you.