Army sergeant who killed BLM protester gets 25 years

‘Our criminal justice system is not perfect, but in this case it worked exactly as it should.’ — Jose Garza, Travis County district attorney

AUSTIN, Texas — A U.S. Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed protester at a Black Lives Matter march in Texas was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist who might commit violence again.

Daniel Perry’s sentencing pushes the case toward a potentially thorny decision for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he wants to give Perry a swift pardon.

Abbott asked the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to send him a pardon recommendation for Perry shortly after his conviction in April for killing Garrett Foster at the Austin march in July 2020.

Abbott lauded Texas’ tough “stand your ground” self-defense laws and said Perry had been railroaded by a liberal prosecutor. Since then, Perry’s trail of texts and online posts, including shockingly racist images, have been made public, but the governor has stayed silent on the matter.

Abbott’s office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the sentence or on whether he still intends to issue a pardon. Perry, 36, could have received up to life in prison.

Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said Abbott had moved too soon in calling for a pardon.

“Abbott clearly boxed himself into a corner” when he appeared to respond to criticism from conservative former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who had demanded the governor act on Perry’s behalf, the professor said. “I suspect if Gov. Abbott had known all that he knows now, he would not have jumped the gun on pledging to pardon him,” Jones added.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is appointed by Abbott, has started reviewing Perry’s case. State law requires the board to recommend a pardon before the governor can act.

The case has been embroiled in politics as it came amid broad demonstrations against police killings and racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Perry’s lawyers said Wednesday that the case was a “political prosecution” and that the release of his texts and social media posts was “character assassination.”

Attorney Clinton Broden said the defense team would pursue both a pardon and a standard appeal through the court system.

“Those who claim that Gov. Abbott’s expressed intent is based on politics simply choose to ignore the fact that it was only the political machinations of a rogue district attorney which led to Sgt. Perry’s prosecution,” he said.

Travis County Dist. Atty. Jose Garza said it was Abbott “who decided to insert politics in this case.” Garza said the parole board had assured him that he and Foster’s family will be given a chance to address the board in Perry’s case.

In a statement, the board confirmed its investigation was ongoing and declined further comment.

“The entire history of the board ... has been [as] a careful steward of the power of clemency in this state,” Garza said. “Our criminal justice system is not perfect, but in this case it worked exactly as it should. The Travis County district attorney’s office is not done fighting for Garrett and the integrity of that process here.”

In a brief statement before issuing the sentence, state District Judge Clifford Brown said Perry had received a fair trial. The jury’s verdict “deserves our honor and it deserves to be respected,” Brown said, without directly mentioning the potential pardon.

Jones predicted that the board will let Perry’s legal appeals happen first, and that it would be years, if ever, before the board makes a recommendation in his case.

“The majority [of conservatives] will want to put it in the rearview mirror,” Jones said. “Conservatives have far better causes and individuals to support — far better than Daniel Perry.”

Perry, who is white, was stationed at Ft. Hood, about 70 miles north of Austin, at the time of the shooting. He was working as a gig driver and had just dropped off a customer when he turned onto a street filled with protesters. Among them was Foster, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran, who was also white and was legally carrying an AK-47 rifle.

Perry said he acted in self-defense, claiming that he was trying to drive past the crowd and fired his pistol when Foster pointed a rifle at him. Witnesses testified that they did not see Foster raise his weapon, and prosecutors argued that Perry could have driven away without shooting.

Army spokesman Bryce Dubee has said Perry is in “civilian confinement” pending his separation from the military.

Among the statements by Perry that were introduced in court 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. As protests erupted a few days later, Perry sent a text message to an acquaintance: “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”

Foster was with his girlfriend, Whitney Mitchell, who is Black and uses a wheelchair, when Perry gunned him down. Mitchell and several members of Foster’s family were in the courtroom Wednesday for Perry’s sentencing.

Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, was allowed to address Perry in court.

“After three long years, we’re finally getting justice for Garrett,” she said. “Mr. Perry, I pray to God that one day he will get rid of all this hate that is in your heart.”