Loads of leaps to conclusions in this thread.

First, some education for our lib friends: there are different kinds of chokeholds one can employ to stop an attacker. Two major types, in fact.

First is the windpipe or tracheal choke. This is where you compress someone's trachea and restrict airflow by putting pressure on the larynx. This is an illegal choke in most places as the likelihood of damage is very high and there's a real possibility of death - many things can go wrong with tracheal chokes. They're not really taught in self defense classes or in martial arts.

What Penny used is called a blood or a carotid choke. This is where you use you shoulder and forearm to restrict blood flow to the brain by compressing the carotid arteries.

In a windpipe choke, the subject will thrash around as the airway is restricted. Paradoxically it makes someone harder to control.

In a blood choke, as the brain gets starved of blood they just go limp and pass out. For this reason it's a legal thing in police work and MMA tournaments.

Penny used a blood choke because a) they're harmless to most people b) once you gain someone's back it's the fastest and safest way to get somebody under control and c) the subject tends to pass out pretty quickly if you know what you're doing.

If you're going to try to kill someone, you're not going to do it that way so the "murder" calls are stupid on stilts. He's a Marine. He knows how to break a neck if that's what he wanted to do, which he didn't.

The 'held for 6 minutes' thing is speculative at best in terms of how much pressure was being applied to the side of the guy's neck.