I think it’s as simple as “who would you rather want to share a subway car with tomorrow”No, I wasn't.
I think Penny "got away with murder" - or at least manslaughter. But he's an attractive, likeable young white guy who probably charmed the jury on the stand and the vic was a crazy, black guy.
I thought it likely the jury would be hung. Sounds like the jury members who wanted to convict gave in faster than the jury members who wanted to acquit in the jury chamber. You don't have to be a genius to predict how that would play out. And even the jury members who wanted to convict probably felt a little sorry for Penny and felt "Whatever!" about letting him go free.
Not the first time that a white man killed a black man in the US and walked out of the courtroom a free man. Not the last.