Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivers justice. The Republican leader promulgated this Thursday the pardon of Daniel S. Perry, sentenced to 25 years in prison after fatally shooting a participant in a Black Lives Matter protest that was passing through Austin.
It was the summer of 2020, a time of great racial unrest in the United States due to the death at the hands of the police of the African-American George Floyd. Perry watched the demonstrations in the streets with anger.
“I could go to Dallas to shoot looters,” according to a text message sent to a friend. “I could kill a few on the way to work while they protest around my building,” she wrote to another colleague. “No protesters will come near my car,” she insisted.
He kept his word. The then Army sergeant, who earned a salary driving for Uber, drove his vehicle into some protesters and fatally shot Garrett Foster, 28, a former air force mechanic. They were both white. The jury found Perry guilty, based on extensive evidence and psychological reports determining that the defendant “was a loaded gun.”
Abbott, as he had already promised due to pressure from the far right, ignored this verdict and the evidence. He considered, however, that the real culprit was the dead man and that Perry acted in self-defense. Foster carried a rifle, like so many protesters and counter-protesters in a state that allows open carrying of weapons.
“Texas has one of the strongest self-defense laws in the country that cannot be overturned by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” the governor said. He also accused prosecutor José Garza (Democrat) of acting with prejudice and hiding factors favorable to Perry, without any evidence other than his word.
“This decision is totally contrary to the law and shows that there are two types of people in Texas, those whose lives matter and those who do not,” Garza replied in a statement. “This sends the message that jurors and the trial itself don’t matter,” she added.
The signing and release took place within an hour. The state’s pardon board, which is appointed by the governor, ruled in favor of the pardon, a mandatory step for Abbott to sign his decision. In this way he endorsed the fictional account of the ultras, in which Perry found himself surrounded in his car and had to shoot when he saw that the other was aiming at him.
The reality described by witnesses, and certified by other evidence, is that Perry rushed towards the protesters and opened fire, without anyone confirming that Foster aimed it at him.
“This doesn’t make any sense, I feel like I’m in an episode of The Twilight Zone, some kind of political circus is taking my life,” the deceased’s mother, Sheila, told The New York Times.
Other relatives stressed that both the investigation and the work of the juries have become wasted time and money. And they asked themselves, “why resort to justice?”
Perry, 37, expressed excitement about her new life. A second chance that Foster will not enjoy.