US army officer Daniel Perry was convicted of murder but looks set to be pardoned by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
An enormous legal controversy has erupted in the United States, with the Governor of Texas promising to pardon a man the day after a jury convicted him of murder.
On Friday, a jury in Austin found US army officer Daniel Perry, 37, guilty of murdering air force veteran Garrett Foster, 28, during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Perry was driving an Uber vehicle in downtown Austin on July 25, 2020, when he ran through a red light and then stopped among a group of protesters. There were widespread Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the US at the time, sparked by the murder of George Floyd.
Foster, armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, was among the protesters who approached Perry’s car. Perry shot him five times with a revolver and drove away before calling police and reporting the incident.
Both guns involved had been purchased legally.
Perry later told police Foster had threatened him by raising the barrel of his rifle. At trial, his defence team argued he had acted in self-defence, citing Texas’ “Stand Your Ground” law, which permits someone to defend themselves if they feel their life is in danger.
Defence lawyer Doug O’Connell argued the crowd of protesters had “attacked” Perry’s car and “boxed it in”.
“Daniel had no choice,” O’Connell said.
“That could have happened to anyone.”
Prosecutors argued Perry was the instigator, and had options other than deadly force available to him, such as driving away. Witnesses also disputed Perry’s claim that Foster had raised his rifle.
The prosecution highlighted a series of social media posts, published before the shooting, saying they illustrated Perry’s state of mind.
“No protesters go near me or my car,” Perry wrote in one of the messages, adding that he “might go to Dallas to shoot looters.
“I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex,” he said in another post. A commenter asked whether Perry could “legally” do that, to which he replied: “If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car then yes.”
“This is an age-old story about a man who couldn’t keep his anger under control,” prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez told the jury.
“It’s not about police, and it’s not about protest marchers.
“Garrett Foster had every right to go up to (Perry) and see what the heck was going on, and he had every right to do it with a deadly weapon.”
The jury deliberated for two days before finding Perry guilty of murder. It acquitted him on a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which concerned a separate incident in which he was alleged to have driven in front of a protester.
Perry has yet to be sentenced, but faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
His actual term of imprisonment is likely to be much shorter. On Saturday, US time, after an uproar from American conservatives who believed Perry had indeed acted in self-defence, the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, pledged to pardon him.
Abbott first requires a recommendation that Perry be pardoned from the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles, though he is assuming that will happen.
“I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sergeant Perry,” Abbott said in a statement.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defence that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney.
“Unlike the president or some other states, the Texas Constitution limits the governor’s pardon authority to act only on a recommendation by the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Texas law does allow the governor to request the Board of Pardons and Paroles to determine if a person should be granted a pardon.
“I have made that request and instructed the board to expedite its review. I look forward to approving the board’s pardon recommendation as soon as it hits my desk.”
Assuming it goes through, this will be Abbott’s 18th pardon as Governor, though the first for a murder conviction. The previous 17 pardons were for lesser crimes such as theft, credit card fraud, illegally carrying a gun and providing alcohol to a minor.
Abbott’s statement came after a withering monologue from Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson, who claimed Perry was “charged with murder for defending himself” and accused the Governor of failing to support the right to self-defence.
“Tonight, we are sad to tell you, this man, a military veteran driving an Uber car, was convicted of murder,” Carlson told his viewers.
“It means that in the state of Texas, if you have the wrong politics, you’re not allowed to defend yourself.
“This is a legal atrocity. It’s so obviously unjust that tonight we extended an invitation to the sitting Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, to come on this show on Monday. And we wanted to ask if he was considering a pardon for Daniel Perry. But for some reason, Governor Greg Abbott’s office told us he just can’t make it.
“So that is Greg Abbott’s position: There is no right of self-defence in Texas.”
Perry’s lawyer has said he is focusing on his client’s sentencing.