NEW YORK — Daniel Penny was acquitted on Monday of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a former street performer with a history of mental illness who died after Penny placed him in a chokehold to Neely on a Manhattan subway last year.

A jury found Penny not guilty days after a judge dismissed the more serious charge of manslaughter after a jury twice notified Judge Maxwell Wiley they were deadlocked.

The case, which drew protests across the country last year, has been largely divided along racial lines. Penny, who is white, placed Neely in a chokehold after Neely had allegedly created a disruption on the subway. Prosecutors said Penny, a former Marine, placed Neely in a chokehold that lasted almost six minutes before he died.

The jury, which was anonymous, was made up of seven women and four men who deliberated for about an hour on the criminally negligent homicide charge. On Friday, the jury informed the judge they were deadlocked after spending four days deliberating the more serious manslaughter charge.

Penny faced up to four years in prison on the criminally negligent homicide charge.

Neely, 30, was known to many as a former Michael Jackson impersonator. Witnesses testified during the trial that on the day of the deadly encounter, he complained about being hungry and thirsty. He also said he wanted to go back to jail and didn’t care whether he lived anymore.

After hearing the verdict on Monday, Neely’s father was among many in the courtroom who immediately cried and yelled before he was escorted out.

Following the verdict, a crowd could also be heard outside of the Manhattan courthouse shouting “no justice, no peace.”

More on the case and not guilty verdict.