We’ve written extensively here at RedState about the Daniel Penny trial because it seems to perfectly epitomize everything that’s wrong with the progressive view of America. It’s become an upside-down world—criminals are heroes, and heroes are criminals. The law is meted out depending on whether you’re “oppressed” or “privileged.” Everything is centered on race, and they try to divide the country along those lines at every turn.

If you haven’t been following, Penny—a 26-year-old former Marine and aspiring architect—restrained Jordan Neely, a drug-addicted homeless man who burst onto a NYC subway car and threatened passengers with death. Although Neely was still breathing when Penny let him go, he later died, and extremist Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thought it was somehow in the public interest to charge Penny with second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Although the judge (insanely) agreed to drop the manslaughter charge when jurors found themselves in a deadlock Friday, Penny still faces the negligent homicide charge and a possible prison term of up to four years.

He’s trying to remain hopeful despite his ordeal, according  to the NY Post:

Daniel Penny is “staying positive and optimistic” and spending the weekend with his family as he waits for a Manhattan jury to resume deliberations in his high-profile subway chokehold case, his lawyer told The Post.

Jurors are expected back in court Monday to consider whether to convict Penny on a criminally negligent homicide charge, after they deadlocked on a top charge of manslaughter.

“He’s been spending as much of his free time with his mother and sisters,” Penny’s attorney Thomas Kenniff told The Post Saturday. “They’ve been his rock throughout this very difficult time.”

A New York state of mind: Judge in Penny Case Dismisses Top Charge, Lesser Charge Still in Play

TRAGEDY: Daniel Penny Case Shows the Utter Failure of Progressivism (VIP)

My heart breaks for Daniel Penny. The guy volunteered to serve and protect his country as a Marine and then did so again on May 1, 2023. He is a hero; we would be a much better country with more men like him.

— Lisa Boothe 🇺🇸 (@LisaMarieBoothe) December 6, 2024

Penny still believes—as do I, along with millions of others—that he did no wrong on that day:

“While Danny is relieved by the dismissal of the manslaughter count, he still faces the second homicide charge in the indictment, and a significant state prison sentence,” Kenniff said.

“He remains confident that when the jury returns on Monday, they will agree he acted reasonably in the face of the unprecedented terror Jordan Neely manifested aboard the F train. There can be no compromise when it comes to an innocent man’s freedom.”

I don’t always agree with Meghan McCain, but I’m willing to credit people when they’re right—and she’s right about this one:

I don’t think the left fully grasps how much they are radicalizing people when a marine who saved a bunch of people on the subway from a violent person with mental illness yelling “someone is going to die today” is demonized.

Daniel Penny did nothing wrong, you lunatics.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) December 6, 2024

I’ve argued many times that while we can write columns, and pundits can go ballistic on cable news and fire off social media posts, sometimes it’s comedy that can best illuminate an issue in ways that other responses can’t. The Babylon Bee brilliantly sums up the idiocy here:

Prosecutors Warn Daniel Penny Acquittal Could Lead To Rampant Acts Of Heroism https://t.co/577mbOBPZA pic.twitter.com/pABM6Nlcmh

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 6, 2024

In the end, both Penny and Neely were wronged by the woke “reformative justice” movement. Neely should have never been allowed on the streets—he should have been incarcerated or in a mental institution for his own safety and forced to wean off drugs—and Penny should never have been put in that predicament in the first place.

More: OPINION: The Judge in the Daniel Penny Case Is Trying to Rig a Guilty Verdict

As Jury Begins Deliberations, Daniel Penny Appears to Have a Surprising Voice in His Corner 

It’s a shame what progressives and the George Soros movement have done to so many of our major cities, but if you’re Alvin Bragg, your response is to try to imprison the one hero in the entire narrative.

Shame on you. I don’t have much faith in New York juries, but I still hold out some hope that they will do the right thing. In the meantime, my heart and my prayers go out to the Penny family as they face this unjust persecution.