Opening statements in the trial of Daniel Penny begin on Friday, now that 12 men and women have been sworn in as jurors.

Penny, a former Marine, is charged with recklessly killing Jordan Neely, by placing him in a chokehold on a subway train after he had threatened passengers. Penny has pleaded not guilty.

“This is a unique case because they have to be very cognizant of defenses and that many of the jurors have experienced some of the things they’re going to hear about in this case,” Julie Rendelman, a defense attorney and former prosecutor in Brooklyn, told NY1.

The jury consists of seven women and five men. During jury selection, nine of them said they have seen outbursts from people on the subway; four said they have felt personally threatened or harassed.

Penny is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

“We believe his intention initially was a very good one, which was to protect people on the subway from somebody he believed to be a threat,” prosecutor Dafna Yoran told a group of potential jurors this week. “That makes this even more difficult.”

Yoran added, “Even though his intention initially was very good. He went way too far.”

“You want to be honest with the jury,” Rendelman said. “If you had started out going ‘this is a brutal homicide where Daniel Penny stepped in for no reason, there was no danger’ — you’re going to lose half, if not all, the jurors.”

Penny’s defense will give an opening statement as well. They say Penny’s actions were justified and in defense of others on the train.

“It’s hard to just rest on, the prosecutors fail to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” Anna Cominsky, director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at New York Law School, told NY1. “If you can also have a defense you can raise, all the better.”