Army sergeant Daniel Perry has been handed a 25 year sentence in the shooting of Garret Foster in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2020, at the height of the riots.
Foster approached Perry’s car carrying a rifle, which Perry claimed was aimed at him. He said that he shot Foster in self-defense. Read more background from Professor Jacobson here.
The Texas Tribune reports:
Daniel Perry is sentenced to 25 years for killing an Austin protester. Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to pardon him.A Texas state district judge on Wednesday sentenced Daniel Perry to 25 years in prison for shooting to death a man protesting police brutality. Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to pardon the former U.S. Army sergeant for the crime.Perry, 36, shot and killed U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster from his car in downtown Austin in July 2020, two months after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. Foster, a 28-year-old white man legally carrying an AK-47, was protesting against police violence and racial injustice when Perry drove into the crowd. Perry repeatedly fired his handgun at Foster after Foster approached the car with his rifle. Perry, who is also white, has said Foster raised his rifle toward him; witnesses said he didn’t.Perry’s murder trial was a difficult and distinctively Texas case that forced jurors to weigh self-defense claims and gun rights. In April, jurors deliberated for about 17 hours after listening to weeks of evidence before convicting Perry of murder.At a hearing Tuesday before state District Judge Cliff Brown over Perry’s sentence, attorneys for Perry and the state of Texas argued over the relevance of recently revealed racist and threatening comments Perry made on social media and in text messages. And they debated whether developmental disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder suggested by Perry’s hired psychologist should warrant leniency.
The Post Millennial describes the scene on the night of the shooting:
Perry, who worked as an Uber driver at the time, encountered an armed BLM group that had taken over the streets of Austin on July 25, 2020. Perry turned onto a street with his vehicle, where he was surrounded.“I made a wrong turn, a guy pointed a freakin weapon at me and I panicked. I don’t know what to do. I’m just an Uber driver. I made a wrong turn; I’ve never had to shoot someone before. They started shooting back at me, and I got out of the area,” Perry told a 911 operator that night.
Perry’s attorney is already planning to appeal.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has requested a pardon recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons.
Featured image via YouTube.
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