Surprising; I think a lot of people agreed with the negligent homicide charge.
Those people read/watched what was available in the media, while the Jury got all the facts.
And this will cost Penny a lot of money, and give him notoriety.
I think Penny will do just fine. He will not have to look hard for financial support or adulation.
The murder rate in the U.S. was up and down from 2000 to 2019. It jumped up in 2020, as did a lot of things. It’s gone down again:
It’s not a good idea to make statements about an entire country based on a few anecdotes.
If as reported the dismissal came in the face of the jury saying it was stuck, it could be that with the dismissal of the manslaughter charge and leaving only the negligent homicide, those jurors who were hanging on the “guilty” side may have felt they were never going to get anywhere anyway and threw their hands up.
One could instead say that — given the chance to stop an injustice from occurring right in front of them — they commendably decided to defend a law-abiding citizen by moving their hands appropriately.