Northeast
Alvin Bragg's prosecutors pivot to nailing Danny Penny, cross line in court
NEW YORK – Dr. Satish Chundru, a Texas forensic pathologist working for Daniel Penny’s defense as he fights charges for the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, returned to the witness stand Friday for a second day of grilling.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, grabbed the 30-year-old Neely in the middle of a schizophrenic, drug-fueled outburst on a subway car that witnesses said included death threats and had them fearing for their lives. Although Neely still had a pulse when Penny let go, he later died.
Contrary to the official autopsy report conducted by Dr. Cynthia Harris of the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office, Chundru testified that he does not believe a chokehold caused Neely’s death.
DANIEL PENNY DEFENSE CALLS FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST TO WITNESS STAND: ‘THE CHOKEHOLD DID NOT CAUSE THE DEATH’
Dr. Satish Chundru leaves the courtroom during a recess in Daniel Penny’s New York City manslaughter trial at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York City on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
During a grueling cross-examination, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Dafna Yoran grilled Dr. Chundru on the connection between sickle cell trait and death in other cases, prompting repeated objections from the defense.
At one point, Judge Maxwell Wiley cut her off and said “we’re not doing that.” But the questioning continued through more objections before the court went to recess.
Before jurors returned, the defense argued that Yoran improperly brought up the term “homicide,” a misstep that happened earlier in the trial as well.
Wiley said he did not want to strike the back-and-forth. When the jury returned, he told them that “homicide” means something different to a medical examiner than it does to a lawyer or a jury and asked them not to weigh the witness’ use of that word when weighing facts of the case.
Daniel Penny walks in the hallway of Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Penny, a Marine veteran, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
It was the second time that the word “homicide” came up controversially and prompted the defense to raise an objection. Earlier this week, Wiley ordered the first comment stricken, when Dr. Harris mentioned that “all homicide reports” were reviewed by another doctor in the city medical examiner’s office.
Not all homicides are criminal, and the defense argued that the prosecution’s repeated espousal of the word could confuse the jury.
The defense asked the court to note for the record that they have had several conversations, and the DA’s office agreed that bringing up testimony from forensic pathologists regarding death as a “homicide” would be misleading to the jury.
The first time, it came from Dr. Harris. The second, the defense said Yoran said the word as part of her questioning. She denied it. The judge said he would review the transcript later and issue additional jury instructions if necessary.
Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson movie, “This is It,” outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in Times Square in New York City in 2009. (Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
While Penny’s team has maintained that his actions were justified, that’s not their only line of defense, according to Louis Gelormino, a New York City defense attorney who is closely following the case.
“One of the other defenses is, ‘Well, I didn’t kill him. My actions weren’t the cause of death,’” he told Fox News Digital Friday. “So yes, it doesn’t make a difference if it was justifiable. But if his actions weren’t justifiable, the jury could also say, ‘Hey, [his] actions didn’t kill him. He died because of the other things going on in his body.’ And that’s why that’s relevant.”
Chundru, a former Miami-area medical examiner who now runs a private practice in Texas conducting autopsies in a half-dozen counties, has testified that he did not believe an air choke caused Neely’s unconsciousness and, therefore, did not cause his death.
Rather, he blamed it on “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana.”
Dr. Cynthia Harris arrives for Daniel Penny’s trial at the Manhattan Criminal Court building in New York City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. Penny, a Marine veteran, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner and leading forensic pathologist, disagreed with Chundru’s testimony.
“Dr. Chundru’s testimony may have been very interesting, but it was wrong,” he told Fox News Digital. “He described what can happen in sickle cell disease, not what happens in sickle cell trait, which Neely had. Eight percent of Black people in this country have sickle trait, which is a benign medical condition that rarely causes any symptoms, let alone death.”
At the autopsy, Harris found significant “sickling” on Neely’s organs, she testified, and lawyers on both sides asked for an explanation. She said the condition did not contribute to Neely’s death, and she blamed it solely on asphyxiation from the chokehold.
“Sickle trait red blood cells do sickle after death, when the body’s oxygen supply disappears and can be seen at autopsy – as with Neely or with anyone with sickle trait dying from any condition,” Baden said. “It’s a post-mortem artifact like rigor mortis. Further, death from sickle disease takes days of sickling to occur; it can’t occur in seconds as happened to Neely.”
Screenshot from bystander video showing Jordan Neely being held in a chokehold on the New York City subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez via Storyful)
DANIEL PENNY TRIAL: SUBWAY MADMAN CLAIMED HE HEARD TUPAC AND DEVIL BEFORE DEADLY CHOKEHOLD, SHRINK SAYS
However, he said, even if the chokehold caused Neely’s death, it is not up to the medical examiner to decide whether that was criminal.
“The individual circumstances are important as to whether the death could [or] should have been avoided, and whether the death should be prosecuted, which is entirely up to the prosecutor,” he said.
Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top charge of manslaughter. He also faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
It was not immediately clear whether he would take the stand in his own defense, although some experts have suggested it is likely that he will because it is a self-defense case.
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Connecticut
Connecticut man dies after being struck by SUV while crossing busy N.J. highway, police say
A 64-year-old Connecticut man died this week after he was struck by a car while crossing a busy Monmouth County roadway earlier this month, authorities said.
The man, identified Friday as Niantic resident Michael Losacano, was hit shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 on State Highway 35 in Wall Township near Wall Church Road, according to a statement from the Wall Township Police Department.
Losacano was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center by local EMS where he died on Monday, the department said.
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – You don’t need to be a farmer to enjoy Maine’s harvest this weekend!
Maine Harvest Festival & Craft Show is returning to Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center both Saturday and Sunday.
Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, there will be over 80 local artisans, farmers and crafters selling a wide variety of goods, making it a perfect stop for Christmas gifts or Thanksgiving additions!
WABI got a glimpse into the Cross Insurance Center Friday as vendors prepped their booths ahead of the weekend.
New this year: admission is free!
Organizers say it is in response to low admission numbers post-COVID and to incentivize as many people as possible to come shop local.
“At the Cross Center, we really want to celebrate our community, and we want to make sure we give people, our local vendors a spotlight to reach the community,” says Brad LaBree, Cross Insurance Center’s Director of Sales and Marketing.
The event will also give attendees a chance to participate in the Cross Insurance Center’s ticket giveaway to upcoming shows a part of their Broadway series.
LaBree says Cross Insurance Center is expecting about a 5,000-person turnout this weekend.
Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.
A view of a marina in Nantucket Island. Nantucket is home to the most expensive ZIP code in … [+]
Massachusetts stands among the top five states in the United States in terms of income, boasting a household income of $99,858 and a mean household income of $138,516, according to the Census Bureau. Affluence is a hallmark of many places in Massachusetts, both of regular suburbs and resort areas.
For this article, we wanted to breakdown the most expensive ZIP codes in Massachusetts. Vacation spots in Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Code, and the Berkshires not surprisingly are home to many of the most expensive ZIP codes. But so does the Boston metro area. Read on to find out the most expensive ZIP codes in Massachusetts in 2024, based on the latest data from Zillow’s home value index.
The Most Expensive ZIP Codes in Massachusetts
Harnessing data from Zillow’s home value index, as well as the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, we analyzed thousands of ZIP codes across the U.S. as part of a general survey. From there, we focused our attention on Massachusetts. The Zillow home value index tracks (as of September 2024) the home values of 484 ZIP codes in Massachusetts. As part of our analysis, we took into consideration the latest monthly home values Zillow has — September 2024 — as well as the average of 12 months of median home values from October 2023 to September 2024. While home values have grown immensely across America since the pandemic-induced buying frenzy, home value appreciation in Massachusetts stands out. One of the most expensive ZIP codes in Massachusetts witnessed home values surge by 84.8% over the last five years.
Some very clear patterns emerge from this analysis. The majority of the most expensive ZIP codes in Massachusetts are contained within just a couple of metropolitan areas. Below are the 25 most expensive ZIP codes in Massachusetts.
The Top 5 Most Expensive ZIP Codes in Massachusetts
ZIP code 02554 is the most expensive one in Massachusetts. This ZIP code covers the affluent island of Nantucket. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard are well-known for attracting wealthy residents. The 12-month average home value is just over $2.7 million, while the median home value was over $2.77 million in September 2024. That is up an incredible 57.5% from five years before, when the median home value was roughly $1.76 million in September 2019.
Moving over to Nantucket’s neighbor, ZIP code 02535 covers the southwestern portion of Martha’s Vineyard. Incomes are high in ZIP code 02535, with the median household income being $135,750 and the average household income $223,352. Just over 29% of households in ZIP code 02535 earn $200,000 or more a year. Back in September 2019, the median home value was nearly $1.478 million, before rising by 58.8% over five years, reaching $2.346 million in September 2024. Notably, though, the median home value fell slightly, by 2%, from the previous September, when it was just under $2.395 million.
The No. 3 most expensive ZIP code in Massachusetts is 02493, which is centered on Weston, a suburb west of Boston. Household incomes in ZIP code 02493 are much higher than those on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, believe it or not. The median household income in ZIP code 02493 is over $250,000 a year, while the mean household income is $365,202. The majority of households in 02493 earn $200,000 or more. Home value appreciation here has been robust. The median home value rose by 59.1%, from around $1.374 million in September 2019 to $2.186 million in September 2024.
South of the No. 3 most expensive ZIP code is the No. 4, ZIP code 02481. This ZIP code is centered on Wellesley, though actually wraps around the town, including places like Wellesley Farms, Wellesley Lower Falls, and Wellesley College itself. There are some serious high-earners in this ZIP code. The median household income is over $250,000, with the average household income topping $414,000 per year. Here’s another ZIP code where home values increased substantially. From a median of nearly $1.357 million in September 2019, the median home value increased by 53.1%, to reach $2.077 million. Indeed, it’s up 6.3% year-over-year.
The fifth most expensive ZIP code in Massachusetts is based on the village of Waban, which is part of the larger city of Newton: 02468. This is another western suburb of Boston. Like the other expensive suburban ZIP codes of Boston, incomes are very high in 02468. Incredibly, 71.3% of households in 02468 earn $200,000 or more. The median household income here is more than $250,000 per year; the mean household income is $382,509. Home values here rose by 45.3% in five years, not as large a growth rate as the other ZIP codes among our top five, yet still substantial. In September 2024, the median home value breached $2 million.
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