Travis County District Attorney José Garza is taking a stand against Gov. Greg Abbott's pardon of Daniel Perry, a man convicted of murder in the shooting of a Black Lives Matter demonstrator in 2020. According to a report from the Texas Tribune, Garza's office filed a petition Tuesday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn what he views as a circumvention of the judicial process. Governor Abbott had pardoned Perry immediately after a unanimous recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, after having served only a fraction of his 25-year prison sentence.
In July 2020, while driving for a ride-share company, Perry turned into a crowd of protesters in downtown Austin and fatally shot Garrett Foster, who was carrying an AK-47 legally but witnesses claim didn't raise it. Arrested after fleeing the scene, Perry was later convicted of murder in April 2023. Holly Taylor, director of the Division of Public Integrity and Complex Crimes, in a move that could raise eyebrows during the DA's office press briefing, criticized the governor's intervention, saying, “When Governor Abbott issued the pardon, not only did he circumnavigate the process for pardons, he exceeded his authority and violated the separation of powers doctrine,”
In response to Tuesday's filing, which has been called "political theater" by Perry's lawyer Doug O'Connell, Gov. Abbott had previously contended that the prosecution prioritized an anti-gun agenda over Perry's right to self-defense. Sheila Foster, Garrett Foster's mother, was present at the press conference, where she expressed her worry that the pardon might signal a tolerance for violence against individuals exercising their First and Second Amendment rights, telling the Texas Tribune, “My own child was killed on American soil for doing nothing but practicing his First and Second Amendment rights and our governor just said, ‘That’s OK, that’s acceptable,’”
Unsealed court documents that came into the light shortly after Perry's conviction revealed racist and threatening comments about protesters, along with inappropriate messages to a minor. With this controversial backdrop, fourteen attorneys general from across the country requested the Department of Justice to investigate any civil rights violations involved in the case. New York Attorney General Letitia James, aiming to assert the importance of the DOJ's role in such matters, stated, “When states fail to protect their residents from such violations of our civil rights, it’s imperative that DOJ steps in and ensures that justice is served,”
Gov. Abbott's use of his pardon power here is relatively rare; in the past years, he has granted pardons sporadically, with most being for lower-level offenses. Noteworthy is the support Perry received from outspoken conservative personalities, who claimed he acted in self-defense during what they described as dangerous protests, which may have played a role in the governor's decision to pardon.
