Marine veteran in NYC subway chokehold death hires Manhattan DA Bragg’s former rival as attorney

The Marine veteran charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway train beneath Manhattan on Monday has reportedly hired the former rival of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to represent him. 

Per The New York Post, the unnamed veteran has retained criminal defense attorney Thomas Kenniff, who ran as a Republican candidate against Bragg in the 2021 Manhattan DA race. 

Kenniff ultimately lost to Bragg, who became the first Black Manhattan DA. On the campaign trail, Kenniff criticized Bragg’s soft-on-crime policies. 

“Given what I say is a humanitarian crisis going on in the streets of New York City, this is not a moment in time when we should be experimenting with new age criminal justice policies,” Kenniff told Fox News Digital in 2021. 

JORDAN NEELY DEATH: NYC MAYOR CALLS OUT AOC FOR ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ MURDER CLAIM

“If anything, we should be looking into or talking about how we double down on the policies that have worked over the last 30 years … We should be talking about how we get tougher on crime, not softer on crime.” 

Neely, who is Black, was reportedly having a mental episode on the F train Monday, yelling and pacing back and forth, when a Marine veteran tackled him to the ground and put him in a chokehold, according to witnesses and police. 

Two other straphangers helped restrain him, and a video that captured part of the encounter shows Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, slowly go limp and then die. 

The city’s medical examiner determined that the manner of death was a homicide caused by compression of the neck. 

NY DEMS TURN ON EACH OTHER OVER HOMELESS MAN’S SUBWAY DEATH: ‘JORDAN NEELY WAS LYNCHED’

The 24-year-old Marine veteran, who appeared to be White, was taken into custody and released without charges. His name has not been released publicly.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it is investigating.

“As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiner’s report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records,” read a statement from a spokesperson for the DA.

Should the DA bring criminal charges after the Marine vet, it could potentially set up another showdown between Bragg and his former rival. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Bragg’s office and Kenniff for comment. 

Fox News’ Sam Dorman, Louis Casiano, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.