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(NEW YORK) — Daniel Penny is expected to turn himself in as soon as Friday to face criminal charges in connection with the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard an F train, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

“We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree,” a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow.”

Neely died following a chokehold on May 1. Video showed Penny, a Marine veteran, putting Neely in a chokehold following outbursts from Neely on the train.

Neely was homeless at the time of his death. Some witnesses reportedly told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train, authorities said.

Police sources told ABC News that Penny was not specifically being threatened by Neely when he intervened and that Neely had not become violent and had not been threatening anyone in particular.

Attorneys for Penny offered “condolences to those close to Mr. Neely” and claimed “Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel,” and that the Marine veteran and others “acted to protect themselves.”

“Mr. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness,” said the statement from the law firm of Raiser and Kenniff. “When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”

In footage of the incident, Penny can be seen holding Neely in a chokehold for nearly 3 minutes, as another man held down Neely’s body.

The Neely family attorneys criticized Penny’s response.

“The truth is, he knew nothing about Jordan’s history when he intentionally wrapped his arms around Jordan’s neck, and squeezed and kept squeezing,” the Neely family attorneys said in a statement.

“Daniel Penny’s press release is not an apology nor an expression of regret. It is a character assassination, and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordan’s life,” the statement from attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards continued.

Neely’s death following the chokehold has been ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner’s office.

Penny, 24, was questioned by detectives and released, according to police. He told police he was not trying to kill Neely.

According to police sources, Neely had a documented mental health history. Neely had been previously arrested for several incidents on the subway, though it’s unclear how many, if any, led to convictions.

The maximum penalty for second-degree manslaughter is 15 years.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump has signaled his intent to appeal the verdict in the civil lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, according to a court filing Thursday.

Trump filed a notice of appeal, a precursor to a formal appeal to come with the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump was found liable for battery and defamation and ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages after a jury decided he sexually abused the former Elle magazine columnist and then defamed her.

Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleged that Trump defamed her in his 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.

Carroll added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.

Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, previously signaled his intent to appeal on grounds related to evidence and judicial fairness.

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(COLUMBUS, Ga.) — The U.S. Army training base formerly known as Fort Benning was renamed Fort Moore on Thursday to honor a late lieutenant general and his wife and remove ties to a Confederate general.

The ceremony to rededicate the base to Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” G. Moore Jr. and Julia “Julie” Moore was held at the Doughboy Stadium near Columbus, Georgia. Their children were present as officials honored the “We Were Soldiers Once and Young” author and his wife as part of a broader campaign to rename bases that commemorated the Confederacy.

“Together, Hal and Julie Moore embodied the very best of our military and our nation, and the renaming of this installation as Fort Moore is a fitting tribute to their lifelong dedication to the army and its soldiers and their families,” said Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, who added that Moore was a “courageous leader who served with distinction” in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

While Moore was applauded for his distinguished career across the three conflicts, speakers at the ceremony emphasized that his wife was instrumental to his success.

“General Moore accomplished many things in his life, but none would have been possible without the love and support of his wife Julie,” Buzzard said at the ceremony. “Much like her husband Julie Moore was a visionary. A crusader of seeing things done right.”

Julia Moore was a proud military wife who worked with the American Red Cross, advocated for military families and spearheaded changes at the Pentagon, according to the speakers at the event.

“She had a hand in improving services for spouses and family. Her leadership and commitment to supporting soldiers and their families led to the development of what we now know today as Army Community Services and the modern-day casualty notification process,” Buzzard said.

The couple’s son, Col. David Moore, served for 27 years before his retirement and described himself as “proud to be an Army brat.”

“Our family is deeply grateful that our parents will be honored, remembered and held as role models for the generations of Army soldiers in these stands and to come,” he said at the ceremony. “They loved each other. They loved us. They loved the Army and their beloved troopers, so much so that my father’s last wish was to be buried among his troopers here at the post cemetery — the same troopers, my mother referred to as their sons and brothers and with whom she is buried as well.”

The renaming of Fort Benning is part of national campaign to change the names of nine U.S. Army installations, as recommended by the Naming Commission’s panel to erase symbols that commemorate the Confederate States of America. On Tuesday, the U.S. Army base formerly known as Fort Hood in central Texas was changed to Fort Cavazos, and Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in April, among other changes.

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(EL PASO, Texas) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities in most regions along the southern border are over capacity even as the number of those in custody has declined, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, there were 26,354 people in CBP custody, which Ortiz said was, “several thousand less” compared to earlier in the morning.

Five of the nine Border Patrol sectors in the southwest were over 125% capacity.

“But that means that there are four sectors that aren’t,” Ortiz said, adding that Border Patrol has been flying migrants from high-traffic areas to facilities with more capacity.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was peppered by questions from reporters at a White House briefing Thursday about whether the administration was prepared for the end of the Title 42 migrant expulsion policy.

“We could see very crowded – as we are now – we could see very crowded Border Patrol facilities,” Mayorkas said. “I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities, but we know how to manage through such strain, as difficult as it will be. I have tremendous confidence and pride in our personnel.”

From the Mexico side of the border in Ciudad Juarez, however, the number migrants crossing into the El Paso area has declined since the weekend.

“The officials in Texas and other places in the US are exaggerating what is happening here for political reasons. There is no crisis here at the moment,” a city government spokesperson said. “We’ve had many other immigration waves that were far more impactful, when all of our shelter space was full and people were on the streets.”

Overall, Ortiz said authorities are tracking around 65K migrants in northern areas of Mexico and that the surge CBP has been expecting may soon subside.

“The increase that we have seen in the last 5 to 7 days was really the surge … I think that what we see now is a continued effort by some to message incorrectly that once Title 42 goes away, it’s going to be a free for all along the border,” Ortiz said. “I don’t see that being the case. Our agents will be out there performing their duties.”

Title 42, the pandemic-era policy which allowed the U.S. to expel upward of two million migrants from the border, expires Thursday.

Currently, 4,000 beds remain open in Ciudad Juarez shelters — well below 50% capacity. That number has been dropping for two weeks and continues to fall.

Ortiz said he believes the administration has shifted to a strategy that prioritizes enforcement and shows migrants the consequences of crossing illegally.

Asked whether heavy-handed measures were necessary for migrants sleeping in the streets of El Paso, Ortiz stood by his approach.

“It wasn’t about chasing people around down the streets, into churches, into a protected areas,” Ortiz said. “It was a very methodical approach. And I was very proud of everyone.”

Under the direction of the secretary, Customs and Border Protection is relying on new features in a mobile phone app called CBP One to schedule appointments for migrants on the border.

About 740 migrants with appointments are arriving at federal border facilities each day, Secretary Mayorkas said on Thursday. The number of appointments is a small fraction of those who have attempted to cross on a daily basis in recent years. CBP is working to expand appointments to 1,000 per day, but with the end of Title 42 just hours away, it might not be enough.

“The greatest level of frustration is actually being able to make the appointment, not the utility of the CBP One app itself,” Mayorkas said. “That is again, another example of a broken immigration system.”

Migrant crossings have at times exceeded 10,000 in a single day, Mayorkas said. He blamed Congress for an immigration system that does not have the capacity to handle everyone seeking to enter the U.S.

“Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades, despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform,” Mayorkas said.

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(ALBANY, N.Y.) — A Georgia company that made a gun accessory the shooter in the 2022 Buffalo grocery store massacre used to modify his AR-15 rifle into “an even deadlier” weapon is being accused in a civil lawsuit filed Thursday by New York Attorney General Letitia James of aiding and abetting in the racially-motivated rampage that killed 10 Black people.

James is suing Mean Arms, which makes, sells and distributes a device meant to lock a magazine filled with ammunition onto a semiautomatic rifle, like the one authorities said Payton Gendron used to fatally shoot his victims at the Tops store on the east side of Buffalo.

The lawsuit, filed nearly a year after the May 14, 2022, mass shooting, alleges the company falsely advertised that the device, known as an MA Lock, makes the weapon legal in New York, but also contains instructions on how to remove the lock, thereby aiding Gendron’s modification of the gun into one that is illegal to possess in the state. According to the lawsuit, the lock can easily be removed so that detachable magazines, including high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition and are illegal in New York, can be inserted into a rifle.

The lawsuit includes a photo of the device’s packaging with instructions for removing the device.

“We lost 10 innocent lives because a hate-fueled individual was able to make an AR-15 even deadlier through a simple change at home,” James said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Mean Arms sells the MA Lock device knowing that it can be easily removed to make guns more dangerous, and even gives directions on how to take this action. We cannot undo the devastating harm that was done, but this lawsuit against Mean Arms is part of our ongoing effort to pursue justice for the ten innocent lives that were unjustly taken,” the statement said.

Mean Arms has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Gendron purchased a used AR-15 that had an MA Lock installed in January 2022. According the lawsuit and to writings Gendron posted online and reviewed by investigators, Gendron removed the MA Lock within a few minutes at home, using a power drill with a #2 speed out drill bit, the same tool advised in Mean Arms’ removal instructions.

On the day of the mass shooting, the shooter inserted multiple 30-round detachable magazines to his weapon. With a pistol grip and the high-capacity magazines, he did not have to stop to reload and when he did reload, he could do so quickly, adding to the deadliness of the attack, the lawsuit said.

Gendron pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and a state charge of domestic terrorism motivated by hate and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He awaits prosecution on federal charges that could include the death penalty.

The lawsuit seeks to stop Mean Arms from doing business in New York and to require the company to pay restitution, damages and civil penalties. The lawsuit also seeks to require the company to issue corrective statements regarding their allegedly false and misleading public statements on the MA Lock.

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