A murderer serving 25 years in prison was convicted on Thursday Released in Texas. He was not released because a DNA test determined he was innocent. The application did not raise any legal technical issues. Daniel Perry, an Army sergeant at the time of his crime, has never disputed that he shot and killed 28-year-old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster in front of multiple witnesses during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. Austin. Rather, Perry was pardoned by Texas Governor Greg Abbott whom Abbott promised he would the day after the jury returned its verdict.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Thursday was “the first time in at least decades that a Texas governor has pardoned someone for a serious violent crime, not just murder.”
Although a Texas grand jury indicted Perry and a jury of Perry’s peers in Texas convicted him, Abbott vowed to free Perry. Abbott promised a pardon before pardon boardappointed its members, announced its results. The governor was under pressure to pardon a number of high-profile conservatives, including one. Tucker Carlson. according to Houston Chronicle, Thursday marked “the first time in at least decades that a Texas governor has pardoned someone for a serious violent crime, not just murder.” Adding to the highly political nature of this pardon, Abbott was due to speak in 2024. National Rifle Association conference this weekend with former president and current candidate Donald Trump.
According to Foster’s mother, he attended BLM demonstrations daily, fueled by the injustice of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Ironically, Foster’s mother describes Foster as a Second Amendment advocate, and witnesses say Foster was carrying a rifle in a sling around his neck the day he died. Perry drove his car toward the protesters who surrounded his car. Perry pulled a handgun from inside his car and shot Foster. Most witnesses describe Foster as having his rifle clutched to his chest, his finger off the trigger and pointed at the ground. Witnesses say they never saw Foster raise his firearm in Perry. However, these details did not matter to Abbott or his pardon board. They said Foster’s gun was in a “weapon-down” position, which was enough to call Perry’s actions self-defense.
That’s interesting — because Perry never claimed Foster pointed the gun at him. Perry told police: “I believe he’s going to take aim [his rifle] to me I didn’t want to give him a chance.”
Saying you shot someone you thought could end up getting you a gun not self-defense; this is an acknowledgment that you are not a threat. If Perry did not shoot Foster in self-defense, what was his motivation? Prosecutors during the trial presented messages Perry was sent before the shooting. Some of the messages He talked about wanting to kill Muslims, Blacks and protesters. Other messages include:
“I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they’re rioting outside my apartment complex.”
“I’m officially a racist because I don’t agree with people being treated like animals in a zoo.”
“I can go to Dallas to shoot looters.”
“No protesters come near me or my car.”
Saying you shot someone you thought might end up pointing a gun at you is not self-defense; this is an acknowledgment that you are not a threat.
Perry, who is white and in the military, shot and killed Foster, who is also white and a military veteran. Both were legally carrying their guns that day. So it wasn’t about the color of Foster’s skin any more than it was about a legally accepted claim of self-defense. For both Perry and Abbott, the killing and subsequent pardon were about Foster’s cause, Black Lives Matter, and who Foster chose to associate with. It’s hard to imagine a black protester killing someone who was politically opposed to the case, and that warranting Abbott’s pardon. The governor who freed Perry suggests it’s open season on protesters in Texas whose cause has not been endorsed by the governor.
Texans are known for valuing at least two things – theirs freedoms and their weapons. However, with this pardon, the Texans have to wonder if they are constitutional law to protest peacefully and legally carry a gun depends on what they are protesting and who is carrying the gun.