Medical examiner says subway madman had drugs in system in Marine vet's chokehold trial | 15 Nov 2024 | A Manhattan forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Jordan Neely after he died following an aggressive outburst on a New York City subway car testified Friday that Neely had synthetic drugs in his system when he died but had been killed by asphyxiation. Dr. Cynthia Harris of the City Medical Examiner’s Office testified during the manslaughter trial of Marine veteran Daniel Penny, 26. She said she had ruled the 30-year-old Neely's cause of death to have been asphyxia from compression to his neck. The toxicology report showed he also had drugs in his system, although she said she could identify them broadly as "a synthetic cannabinoid," but not in specific terms or at what dose. "We found in the blood a synthetic cannabinoid -- a relatively new drug in the scheme of drugs," she said. "They're synthetic and more potent than marijuana. In a class of drugs, they fall under the category of stimulants -- they rev the body up..."