Prosecutors attempt to prove racist intent
Posts of sergeant found guilty in Texas shooting reviewed
AUSTIN, Texas – Prosecutors sought Tuesday to portray as racist a U.S. Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed man during a Black Lives Matter protest in Texas, saying he was hostile toward social justice causes and looking for trouble before the encounter.
Daniel Perry’s two day-sentencing hearing began with the introduction of dozens of texts and social media posts that he wrote, shared or liked, including some shockingly racist images. The texts and posts had been excluded from Perry’s trial, but were publicly released after his conviction and introduced as evidence at sentencing by District Judge Clifford Brown.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott meanwhile has been pressing for the chance to pardon Perry under the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Perry was convicted of murder in April and faces up to life in prison.
Perry, who is white, was working as a ridehail driver in downtown Austin on the summer night in 2020 when he shot and killed 28-yearold Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran. Foster, who was also white, was legally carrying an AK-47 rifle as he participated in the demonstration against police killings and racial injustice, following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Among Perry’s statements introduced Tuesday, he wrote on Facebook a month before the shooting: “It is official I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo.”
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020. A few days later, Perry sent a text message to an acquaintance as protests over Floyd’s death got underway.
“I might go to Dallas to shoot looters,” Perry wrote.
Perry’s attorney, Douglas O’Connell, objected, saying some statements were taken out of context, and Perry has a right to free speech.
Some of the messages and memes Perry shared were “disgusting,” but others were simply “dark humor” and “barracks humor,” O’Connell said.
Forensic psychologist Greg Hupp testified that he believed Perry has post-traumatic stress disorder from his deployment to Afghanistan and being bullied as a child, and that he may have autism. Perry did not see combat but was near a soldier who shot themself in the head, Hupp said.
Perry’s conviction prompted outrage from prominent conservatives including former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who called the shooting an act of self-defense and criticized Abbott for not coming on his show.