The Texas governor granted a full pardon to Daniel Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant who was found guilty of killing a Black Lives Matter protester.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is getting slammed after granting a full pardon to the U.S. Army sergeant who shot and killed a protester during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020.
The sergeant, Daniel Perry, was found guilty of murder in April 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Republican governor said in a statement Thursday that he granted the pardon after an “exhaustive review” was conducted by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.The Context
Perry was convicted of murder for killing 28-year-old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, who was armed with an AK-47 while participating in a Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality in July 2020. Perry claimed during the trial that he shot Foster out of self-defense.
Prosecutors said that Perry initiated the deadly encounter by driving his car into a crowd of protesters who were rallying in downtown Austin. Perry told police, however, that Foster had raised his firearm at him before Perry shot him. Both men are white and were legally armed.
Court documents unsealed after the conviction also revealed that Perry had several racist and threatening comments online regarding the mass protests that broke out across the country in response to the death of George Floyd. Perry also issued threats against the protesters via text messages that were shown to the court, including one message that read, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”What We Know
Abbott’s full pardon for Perry, which also restores his rights to bear arms, was ripped online by progressives such as Nina Turner, an activist and former Democratic state lawmaker in Ohio, who called the governor’s decision “Absolutely horrendous.”
“Where is the so-called ‘pro-life’ crowd?” Turner added in her post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
