When Proper Chokeholds Unexpectedly Become Murder

Right now, this very week in Wisconsin a man named Michael Mattioli is being tried for murder of Joel Acevedo on the grounds that Acevedo died as a result of the choke hold placed by Mattioli. The defendant claims he applied the chokehold for the sole purpose of self-defense, and only to the extent necessary for self-defense—and yet he could end up convicted of murder and spend the rest of his life in prison.Show more

Daniel Penny placed drug addict Jordan Neely in a purported choke hold on May 1 of this year, in defense of himself and other passengers on a NYC subway car.Neely died during the struggle, and now Penny is charged with second-degree (reckless) manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide (reckless, inattentive, careless).

Earlier this year I participated in the legal defense of a Colorado man tried for murder, reckless manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide after he placed a man in a chokehold in self-defense, and the man died.(We secured that defendant’s acquittal, with the jury telling us afterwards that my expert witness testimony was key to their decision to acquit.)

I believe there’s something else than murder or manslaughter at play in these and other instances in which chokeholds have been associated with death, under circumstances in which the person who placed the choke was utterly shocked that the death occurred.

Let's discuss!

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