Wasn’t Penny a combat vet though? Perhaps he did overreact and Neely didn’t have to die (I sure don’t think he deserved THAT even though he certainly did act like a piece of sh*t), but it’s hard to understand what’s going through someone’s mind when they’re facing a life or death situation.
It’s a regrettable outcome for sure but did Penny really deserve life in prison for trying to protect others from violence? It seems rather likely that someone would have died that night, and if it wasn’t Neely, it would have likely been someone more innocent.