AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday he is seeking to pardon a U.S. Army sergeant who was convicted of murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of an armed protester amid nationwide protests against police brutality and of racial injustice.
Abbot he posted on Twitter that, as the state constitution restricts him to pardon only upon the recommendation of the state board of pardons and paroles, he requests the commission to recommend a pardon and to expedite his pardon application to Sgt. Daniel Perry.
“I look forward to approving the board’s clemency recommendation as soon as it reaches my desk,” Abbott wrote.
Perry was convicted by a Travis County jury Friday of shooting Garrett Foster, 28, at a protest in Austin. He faces life in prison if convicted.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ self-defense laws that cannot be overturned by a progressive jury or prosecutor,” Abbott said.
A call to Prosecutor José Garza’s office Saturday went unanswered.
Perry’s attorneys argued the shooting was in self-defense because Foster approached Perry’s car with an AK-47 rifle. Prosecutors said Perry could have walked away before firing the revolver, and witnesses testified that Foster never raised his rifle at Perry.
via the Associated Press
Perry, who was indicted in 2021, was stationed in Ft. Hood, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Austin in July 2020, when he was working for a taxi company and turned onto a street and into a large crowd of protesters in downtown Austin.
In videos streamed live on Facebook, a car can be heard honking before more shots are fired and protesters start screaming and scattering.
When Foster was killed, protesters in Austin and beyond had been marching in the streets for weeks following the police killing of George Floyd.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against the black man’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly claimed he couldn’t breathe.
Floyd’s killing was filmed by a bystander and sparked protests around the world as part of a wider crackdown on racial injustice.
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