A Texas man who killed a protester nearly three years ago was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison, though the state’s Republican governor vowed to pass a pardon if given the chance.
Daniel Perry, 35, an Army sergeant, was convicted last month by a Travis County jury of murder in the fatal shooting of Garrett Foster in downtown Austin in July 2020.
On April 8, the day after the jury returned its verdict, Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that he wanted to pardon Perry, saying he asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles to consider the matter.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza at the time called Abbott’s intervention in the case «deeply concerning.»
“In our legal system, a jury decides whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty, not the governor,” Garza said in an April 9 statement. statement.
Abbott said in vowing to pardon Perry that Texas has a strong «stand your ground» self-defense law and suggested that Garza was a progressive district attorney.
Perry fatally shot Foster, 28, who was legally carrying a rifle, at a rally against police brutality and racial injustice in downtown Austin on the evening of July 25, 2020.
Perry was in a vehicle and Foster approached the intersection with the semi-automatic rifle, police said.
Perry shot Foster from the vehicle with a handgun and told police that Foster, an Air Force veteran, had pointed the gun at him and that the shooting was in self-defense, according to police.
The protest rally in Austin was against police brutality and racial injustice, and was one of many that took place in cities across the country that summer following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Perry was found guilty of murder, but was not found guilty of the second charge he faced, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Under Texas law, the Board of Pardons and Paroles must first recommend a clemency before the Governor can act on it. Abbott said he was allowed to ask the board to review it, saying he asked the board to do so and expedite the matter.
Perry faced life in prison for the murder conviction.
Their lawyer, Clint Brode, said at the time of the guilty verdict that they planned to appeal.
On May 3, a judge denied a request by Perry’s attorney for a new trial in the case.
The protest in Austin, where Foster was killed, occurred as rallies were held across the country that summer following the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white Minnesota police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck.
Perry is white, and so was Foster.
The sentencing hearing began on Tuesday. Prosecutors highlighted text messages and social media posts that showed hostility toward the Black Lives Matter movement, Austin’s NBC affiliate KXAN reported. Some of Perry’s comrades in the military vouched for his character, the station reported.