Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he wants to pardon the man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester.
U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry was convicted of killing Garrett Foster on July 25, 2020, at a George Floyd protest in Austin, Texas.
Foster, an air force veteran, was shot and killed after Perry drove his Uber into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and opened fire. Foster, 28, was armed with a legal AK-47 at the protest to protect himself and his fiancée, Whitney Mitchell. Foster was pushing Mitchell — who is a quadruple amputee — in her wheelchair when Perry drove into the crowd near Fourth Street and Congress Avenue. Perry opened fire as Foster approached his vehicle, shooting him five times before he sped off.
Perry was convicted of murder on April 7. Abbott announced he would pardon the 35-year-old convicted murderer on Twitter on April 8.
“I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry.”
Perry claimed he shot Foster in self-defense, despite witnesses claiming that Foster never raised his weapon. The jury in his trial saw prosecutors present online messages Perry had sent in the weeks before the shooting that showed him saying “No protesters go near me or my car” and “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters” as he talked to friends about the protests roiling the nation in the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
The prosecution painted Perry as someone looking for a confrontation in the weeks before he killed Foster, presenting evidence of his online searches using terms like “riot shootouts,” “protest tonight,” and “protesters in Seattle get shot” before he shot a protester himself.
Although the jury was swayed by the prosecution’s arguments and evidence that Foster’s slaying is not justifiable, the Texas governor is not. Abbott referenced “a progressive District Attorney” in his announcement and the…
Read the full article here
