Veteran Protesting Police Brutality Killed by Soldier – and Texas Governor Approves
Looking for a Victim
The Austin Chronicle has an informative article about a recent murder trial.
“I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” -Daniel Perry
“I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex.” -Daniel Perry
On 25 July 2020, off-duty Army Sgt Daniel Perry “accelerated his car into a crowd of protesters” in Austin, TX. When one of the protesters, Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, approached the car, “The driver’s side window opened and Perry shot Foster four times in the chest and abdomen.”
“Prosecutors presented a Facebook Messenger chat between Perry and a friend… which occurred two weeks before he shot Foster. In it, Perry argued that shooting protesters was legal if it was in self-defense.” His friend responded, ‘We went through the same training … Shooting after creating an event where you have to shoot, is not a good shoot.'” -Austin Chronicle.
“protest tonight,” “protesters in Seattle gets shot,” “riot shootouts,” “protests in Dallas live” – Safari searches from before July 2020 on Daniel Perry’s phone.
Self Defense?
The victim, Garrett Foster, was openly carrying an AK-47 when he was shot. Remarkably, AK-47’s are legal in a semi-automatic version and even in a fully automatic version if registered before 1986. And of course, this being Texas, most people “who legally own a firearm” can “carry it openly in public without obtaining a permit or training.”
Perry’s defense hinged on the claim that he shot Foster after Foster pointed the gun at Perry. Witnesses “All repeated a version of the same story: They heard squealing tires as a car sped into a group of about 20 protesters. The protesters, some of whom had almost been hit by the car, slapped and kicked it. Garrett Foster strode to the car’s side and issued an order to the driver. All of the witnesses insisted that Foster did not raise the barrel of his gun. According to the D.A.’s lead prosecutor, Guillermo Gonzalez, his gun was recovered with the safety still on and no bullet in the chamber.”
According to the Austin American-Statesman’s article on the trial, the Texas self-defense law that allows a person to “stand their ground” rather than retreating from a threat, “has a caveat: A person may not use deadly force that emerged because of that person’s ‘provocation'”, which courts have described “as when a person acts in a way that is calculated to produce a deadly response and if the person is purposefully creating an opportunity to use deadly force.”
Governor Abbott Takes a Side
A Travis County TX jury, after a trial lasting over two weeks, convicted Perry of murder, rejecting his self-defense claim. As another Austin Chronicle article reports, Texas governor Greg Abbott “faced growing calls from national conservative figures such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Kyle Rittenhouse… to act to urgently undo the conviction.” Abbott quickly complied with the demands, announcing “that he would pardon the convicted killer as soon as a request ‘hits my desk.'”
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney” -Governor Greg Abbott
“Painting the conviction as rogue nullification is uniformed or deceptive.” -Jennifer Laurin, U Texas law professor.
“And what’s even worse is that Abbott knows better. He was a smart Texas Supreme Court Justice. He knows this is legally wrong. Profoundly wrong.” -Rick Cofer, former prosecutor.
“David Wahlberg, a former Travis County criminal court judge, said he cannot think of another example in the state’s history when a governor sought a pardon before a verdict was formally appealed.”
Cover photo: Greg Abbott (seated, right), from easttexasradio.com.