Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Vows Pardon For Uber Driver Just Convicted Of Killing Black Lives Matter Protester

April 9, 2023 Crime, Republicans

The Texas Tribune reports:

A Travis County jury found Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, 33, guilty of murder on Friday, almost three years after he shot and killed Austin protester Garrett Foster. In 2021 Perry was indicted for murder, aggravated assault and deadly conduct charges for shooting Foster during a July 2020 protest in downtown Austin.

The indictment came one year after Texans took to the streets to protest police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.

Foster attended an Austin protest on July 25 while Perry was downtown driving for Uber. According to police, Perry stopped his car and honked at people protesting while they walked through the street, blocks from the state Capitol. Seconds later, he drove his car into the crowd, police said.

The Guardian reports:

Perry’s attorneys argued their client was forced to shoot Foster five times in self-defense after Foster approached his car with an AK-47 rifle. In court, prosecutors brought up Facebook messages that Perry sent prior to Foster’s killing. In one message, Perry wrote: “No protesters go near me or my car” and “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”

Another message that Perry sent on 31 May 2020 said: “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work they are rioting outside my apartment complex.” A few days later, Perry commented on a Facebook post of a video titled “Protesters Looters Get Shot San Antonio Texas”, writing, “glad someone finally did something”.

During the trial, Austin police detective William Bursley testified about evidence found on Perry’s cell phone. Part of the evidence included online searches for “protest tonight”, “protesters in Seattle gets shot”, “riot shootouts” and “protests in Dallas live”.

The Austin American-Statesman reports:



Less than 24 hours after a jury in Austin found Daniel Perry guilty of shooting to death a protester, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on social media Saturday that he would pardon the convicted killer as soon as a request “hits my desk.”

The unprecedented effort, which Abbott announced to his 1 million followers on Twitter, came as Abbott faced growing calls from national conservative figures such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in the shooting deaths of two Wisconsin protesters in 2020, to act to urgently undo the conviction.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney,” Abbott said in a statement. “I will work as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry.”

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