With Malice Aforethought

The Killing of Jordan Neely and the Virtual Lynch Mob

I didn’t want to react quickly to video of Daniel Penny killing Jordan Neely, a homeless black man, on the F train. You’ll notice that I still refer to it as a “killing,” not yet “murder.” It was ruled a homicide, but murder requires malice, and it’s not established whether or not Mr. Penny maliciously intended to end Mr. Neely’s life. There is certainl…