Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran acquitted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide in Manhattan in December, has been hired by one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firms to join its “American Dynamism” team.
Mr. Penny, a Long Island native and former architecture student, will work in a group that supports American interests, including the aerospace, defense and manufacturing sectors, according to the website of the company, Andreessen Horowitz.
Mr. Penny was charged in 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney’s office with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after a video of him fatally choking another passenger, Jordan Neely, on the subway circulated online that May.
“We believe in Daniel and are excited to have him as part of our team,” David Ulevitch, a partner at the firm, wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday that was relayed to The New York Times.
Mr. Ulevitch said in the memo that the firm plans to teach Mr. Penny “the business of investing” and that he will support several of the firm’s portfolio companies. On Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Mr. Penny is listed as a “deal partner.”
Margit Wennmachers, a spokeswoman for the firm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thomas Kenniff, Mr. Penny’s lawyer during the trial, said that he and his partner, Steven Raiser, were “extremely happy” about the news.
“The unjust prosecution not only put his liberty at jeopardy but also risked depriving society of a decent and talented young man,” Mr. Kenniff said on Tuesday. “And we know that he will be going on to do great things as he enters this next chapter of his life.”
Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the firm, strongly supported President Trump in the last presidential election, saying that the Biden administration had been a hindrance on matters involving cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.
Speaking on the “Honestly With Bari Weiss” podcast in December, he said that he had spent about half of his time at Mar-a-Lago since Election Day, helping President Trump’s team. Several members of his firm have been part of the administration’s orbit.
The hiring of Mr. Penny was first reported by The Free Press, of which Ms. Weiss is a founder.
Mr. Penny’s manslaughter case divided New Yorkers, as well as the nation.
He had been on an uptown F train on the afternoon of May 1 when Mr. Neely, who had struggled with his mental health for years, boarded the car, approaching passengers and shouting about wanting to return to jail and not caring if he lived or died. Mr. Penny approached Mr. Neely from behind and put him in a chokehold, taking him to the floor.
Mr. Penny told officers that he had acted to protect others on the train because he believed that Mr. Neely posed a threat and was poised to kill someone.
A four-minute video recorded by a bystander quickly spread online, showing the men struggling on the floor of the subway train.
Some people saw the confrontation as emblematic of a broken system that lets vulnerable people slip through the cracks. Mr. Neely had been on a list of people in New York City who stand out for the severity of their mental health troubles and their resistance to accepting help. Mr. Neely had also been arrested more than three dozen times — mostly for minor crimes like turnstile-jumping or trespassing, but at least four times on charges of punching people, two in the subway system.
For others, what happened on that May afternoon was just the latest in a string of high-profile crimes in the city’s subway system, many of which involved homeless and mentally ill people. The episode, they said, was a consequence of the city’s inability to keep residents safe.
The case quickly became a staple on Fox News, and Mr. Penny was praised as a hero by some conservatives.
In December, jurors deadlocked on the most serious charge Mr. Penny faced, manslaughter, and the charge was dismissed by the judge. Jurors then considered criminally negligent homicide, and ultimately acquitted him.
After the verdict, Republican figures including Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani praised the jury and criticized the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, for pursuing the case.
“Thank God justice was done in this case,” Mr. Vance said on social media at the time. “It was a scandal Penny was ever prosecuted in the first place.”
