Texas Governor Greg Abbott has responded to calls of pardon for Daniel Perry, an army veteran that conservatives across the nation believe was wrongfully convicted of murder by a grand jury in Austin, TX. Abbott says he will pardon Perry who acted in self-defense when he killed an armed man pointing a rifle at him.
In 2020, the left-wing activist group Black Lives Matter (BLM) engaged in violent protests across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minnesota. The BLM mobs blocked streets, set fire to property and places, attacked police, and encircled cars that tried to get through their gathering on streets.
In one such incident, on July 25, an army veteran Daniel Perry’s Uber car was stopped by a BLM mob in Austin, TX. Among the BLM mob was Garret Foster who, armed with an AK-47 rifle, walked up to Perry’s car surrounded by BLM protesters. Foster pointed his rifle at Perry prompting Perry to get his own hand gun out and shoot Foster.
A video of the incident suggests that Foster shot some rounds with his rifle followed by Daniel Perry shooting his gun at Foster. The video doesn’t show clearly the shooting but five rounds of a louder gun report followed by 3 shots from a smaller one can be clearly heard at the site of the shooting.
While Perry called 911 after shooting Foster and turned himself in, saying he acted in self-defense, he was charged with murder. On Friday (April 7, 2023), an Austin jury found Perry guilty of Foster’s murder. The verdict was instantly slammed widely by conservatives as biased and political given that Perry had acted in self-defense against an armed and dangerous man pointing his rifle at him. Defense attorney Clint Brode expressed hope that the verdict would be overturned on appeal.
Meanwhile conservatives appealed to Governor Abbott to intervene and stop the injustice of leftists politically targeting Perry. On Saturday, April 8, Governor Abbott tweeted his statement on the issue and assured that he would swiftly approve the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommendation for pardoning Daniel Perry. The conservative governor of Texas also wrote in his statement that he is prioritizing reining in rogue district attorneys.
I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry. pic.twitter.com/HydwdzneMU
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 8, 2023
Comments from conservatives poured in on the governor’s statement, thanking him and many liberals calling out his statement as tyranny and “supporting murder.”