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Governor Greg Abbott of Texas issued a full pardon Thursday to a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder for the 2020 fatal shooting of an armed protester during nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Abbott announced the pardon just minutes after Texas The Board of Pardons and Paroles revealed that it has made a unanimous recommendation that Daniel Perry be pardoned and have his firearms rights restored. Perry is being held in state prison on a 25-year sentence after his sentencing in 2023.
The Republican governor previously ordered the board to review Perry’s case and previously said he would sign a pardon if recommended. The board, which is appointed by the governor, announced its unanimous recommendation in a statement posted on the agency’s website, and Abbott’s pardon followed quickly.
Abbott’s request to review Perry’s case followed pressure from former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who on national television urged the Republican governor to intervene after the sergeant was convicted at trial in April 2022. Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to paint him as a racist who might commit violence again.
An Austin jury convicted Perry of manslaughter in the death of Garrett Foster, 28, an Air Force veteran who was legally carrying an AK-47 while marching in a Black Lives Matter protest. Perry was working as a rideshare driver in July 2020 when he started his car on a street crowded with demonstrators and shot Foster before driving off.
Prosecutors argued during the trial that Perry could have driven off without opening fire, and witnesses testified that they never saw Foster raise his gun. The sergeant’s defense attorneys argued that Foster, who was white, did raise the rifle and that Perry had no choice but to fire. Perry, who is also white, did not take the stand and jurors deliberated for two days before finding him guilty.
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