Attorney General Kwame Raoul is leading a coalition of 14 attorneys general, urging the DOJ to launch a civil rights investigation into the 2020 killing of Garrett Foster, according to a recent release. The call to action comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardoned the man convicted of Foster's murder, Daniel Perry, stirring a mix of outrage and political tension.
Perry, who was found guilty of Foster's murder in April 2023, was pardoned earlier this month by Abbott, a move Raoul and the coalition deemed as a dangerous precedent. The Texas "Stand Your Ground" law served as the basis for Abbott's decision, a statute that the coalition believes may embolden others to engage in similar acts of violence under the guise of self-defense. "This pardon damages public safety. It not only fails to hold Perry accountable for taking Garrett Foster from his loved ones, it also sends an affirmative message to others who would seek to violently disrupt Americans from exercising their constitutional rights," Raoul said.
The 2020 incident, emerging from a protest against racial injustice in Austin, Texas, ended when Perry drove into a crowd and shot Foster, who was then carrying a firearm legally. The subsequent investigation unearthed Perry's online activity, which included search history and text messages that indicated a premeditated intent to harm the demonstrators—behaviors that ran counter to his self-defense claims during his trial.
Despite Texas' pardon, which has vigorously reignited the debate around "stand your ground" laws, the coalition is pushing for the DOJ to investigate whether Perry's actions violated federal civil rights laws. The coalition suggests that federal authority may be necessary to address acts of hate and prevent state-level legal systems from acquiescing to vigilantism. "I join my fellow attorneys general in calling for the DOJ to investigate this shocking instance of violence motivated by hate," Raoul stated.
In addition to Illinois, the coalition includes attorneys general from a range of states across the country, among them Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont. Together, they are calling on the department to use its jurisdiction and reinforce the protection of Americans' civil rights in the face of state decisions that may undermine them.
