May 10 (UPI) — A Texas man who was convicted of murder for shooting dead a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to pardon him.
Daniel Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant, was convicted of murdering Garrett Foster, 28, during racial justice protests in July 2020. Perry has argued that he acted in self-defense, but prosecutors presented as evidence text messages that showed Perry previously making racists statements.
Last month Abbott said that he would pardon Perry. Abbott, who once joked about shooting reporters, said in a statement on Twitter that he would be “working as swiftly as Texas law allows: to pardon Daniel Perry.”
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” Abbott said in his statement.
Abbott noted that Texas law allows him to request that the Board of Pardons and Paroles determine whether a person should be granted a pardon. Texas law only allows the governor the ability to issue a pardon after a recommendation has been made by the board.
“I have made that request and instructed the board to expedite its review,” Abbott said.
Abbott appeared certain that the board would agree to recommend a pardon, stating that he anticipated approving it “as soon as it hits my desk.”
On Wednesday, Perry’s defense attorney Clint Broden criticized the decision to sentence Perry to 20 years.
“While we are aware of the criticism that has unfairly surrounded Governor Abbott’s expressed intent to pardon Sgt. Perry, that criticism fails to account for the fact that the pardon process was designed, in part, to be a check on the system,” Broden said.
“Moreover, those who claim that Governor 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 in the first instance.”
