Justice Dies When Politicians Turn Vigilantism Into a Campaign Stunt

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on May 17, 2023

Think of Kyle Rittenhouse, who claimed self defense after he fatally shot two men and wounded a third during a chaotic night of unrest in Kenosha in August 2020. He was acquitted of all charges, including homicide, and has become a folk hero in conservative mediaand fundraising circles.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, even offered a bill to give Rittenhouse the congressional Gold Medal, the institution’s highest honor — which she opposed granting to the Capitol police for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

And there are other cases, such as Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL accused by members of his own unit of killing multiple unarmed civilians. Trump pardoned him.

More recently, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott promised to pardon a man convicted of the 2020 murder of a Black Lives Matter protester.

It would be easy to cast these episodes of trial-by-media as election year excesses, except this isn’t an election year. Not quite, although for some people it seems the “election year” never ends.

So far, there is no evidence that Neely assaulted anyone on the subway, but Penny acted to restrain him in a chokehold anyway, and at least one other passenger acted to assist him by grabbing Neely’s arms. Neely may also have been turned on his side in an effort to prevent him from choking on his saliva. But when he was taken to the hospital, he was pronounced dead.

To prove guilt of second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors will have to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Penny “recklessly” caused Neely’s death. Under New York state law, The New York Times reports, a person is deemed to have acted recklessly when he engages in conduct which creates or contributes to a substantial or unjustifiable risk that another person’s death will occur.

Considering the circumstances, there’s a good chance that the outcome won’t satisfy very many of us, regardless of which side we’re on. As a lawyer friend of mine put it, “Justice? You’re not going to have any real justice as long as there’s no way to bring that dead man back to life.”

Indeed, there’s no way around the simple truth in these instances that the system has failed, especially for Neely, a homeless street performer who had a long sheet of arrests and treatments in a social service system that wasn’t there when he needed it most.

Now the state’s justice system must decide whether Penny was criminally “reckless” or just trying to help. The system needs to seek justice, not just revenge.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)