Daniel Perry: Texas pardons US soldier who shot Black Lives Matter protester
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pardoned Daniel Perry, who was convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020.
Daniel Perry, a former US Army sergeant working as an Uber driver in Austin, encountered demonstrators while driving on a street where protests were occurring.
Garrett Foster, one of the protesters, approached Perry’s vehicle carrying a rifle. Perry shot and killed him.
Perry claimed he acted in self-defense, but a jury convicted him, resulting in a 25-year prison sentence.
Foster, 28, a former US Air Force mechanic, was openly carrying an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, which is legal in Texas. Both Foster and Perry are white. The incident occurred on July 25, 2020, during protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Perry, now 37, was alone in his car and reported that some protesters began banging on his vehicle. The demonstrators feared the car might ram them.
During the trial, Perry’s defense argued that Foster raised his rifle, a point disputed by some witnesses. Perry lowered his window and shot Foster five times with a .357 revolver before driving away and calling 911.
The case garnered attention from conservatives, and Governor Abbott had previously expressed his intent to pardon Perry upon receiving an official request. Perry was convicted of murder in April 2023.
On Thursday, the Republican governor announced the pardon, stating that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had conducted an “exhaustive review” of the case and Perry’s personal history.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Governor Abbott said in a statement, referring to Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, a Democrat.
“Stand your ground” laws generally permit an individual to use force, including deadly, against someone if they believe that person is about to commit murder or other serious crimes.
In a statement, Mr Garza said: “The Board and the Governor have put their politics over justice and made a mockery of our legal system. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
According to court documents, Perry began searching for the locations of Black Lives Matter protests weeks before the shooting and messaged friends on social media, comparing protesters to “a bunch of monkeys flinging [expletive] at a zoo”.
In May 2020, shortly after Floyd’s death, he sent a text message saying: “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”
He also sent messages about “hunting Muslims” and about killing a daughter if she had a crush on “a little negro boy”.
