Daniel Perry was released from a Texas prison about an hour after Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned him for killing a Black Lives Matter protester during the 2020 riots.
Perry was convicted of murder last year for shooting Protester Garrett Foster in Austin in July 2020. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Abbott asked the state parole board to investigate Perry’s case in April 2023, leading to a unanimous approval vote that was announced Thursday.
In a statement after the vote was announced, Abbott cited Texas’ ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws, which allow people to use deadly force if they feel they are in imminent danger.
“Texas has one of the strictest ‘Stand Your Ground’ self-defense laws that cannot be overturned by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” Abbott said.
“I thank the Board for its thorough investigation and approve its recommendation for clemency.”
Daniel Perry, a US Army sergeant, was convicted in April 2023 of the murder of protester Garrett Foster in Austin and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Perry killed 28-year-old Garrett Foster during BLM protests in 2020. Pictured: Foster with his fiancée Whitney Mitchell.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested that the parole board review Perry’s case to discuss a possible pardon just days after his conviction, leading to a unanimous approval vote announced Thursday.
In its unanimous ruling recommending Perry’s clemency, the parole board said it “delved into the complexities” of his case.
“Investigative efforts encompassed a meticulous review of relevant documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements and interviews with individuals connected to the case,” the board said.
In addition to the full pardon, Perry will also have his firearms rights restored, the board announced.
At his trial, Perry faced up to 99 years behind bars as prosecutors described him as a racist, unhinged Army soldier who planned to kill rioters, even citing text messages in which he told a friend he “could go to Dallas to shoot the looters.”
He responded that he acted in self-defense and feared he would be shot by Foster, who was legally carrying an AK-47 at the time he was shot and killed.
The case became a hot topic after Abbott called for Perry’s clemency, as critics said the move set a “dangerous” precedent and was driven by “political cunning.”
In February, Foster’s mother, Shiela Foster, spoke out against the pardon request, saying it was another painful moment following her son’s murder.
“I’m just baffled, I just can’t believe this is my life and this is what’s happening, and it has me overwhelmed with anxiety and the ability to move on,” she said. CBSAustin.
Sergeant. Daniel Perry was stationed at Fort Hood at the time of the shooting and drove Uber at night to earn extra money.
Garrett Foster is seen in the driver’s window of Perry’s car during his murder in July 2020.
Activists are photographed on July 26, 2020, holding a vigil for Foster, the day after his murder.
The day Foster was killed, Perry had driven 70 miles from Fort Worth to Austin and was driving for Uber to make extra money while stationed at the Fort Hood military base.
Moments before the shooting, Perry had just dropped off a rideshare customer and turned onto a street filled with protesters.
Perry claimed he tried to move peacefully through the crowd but was blocked, before Foster pointed his AK-47 at him, he said.
The state argued that Perry accelerated toward the crowd, but that was disputed by defense expert witnesses who used data to track the speed of his car. The expert testified that Perry was slowing down when his car entered the protest.
Witnesses testified that they did not see Foster raise his gun, and in a video of the incident that was livestreamed on Facebook, a car could be heard honking before several shots rang out and protesters screamed and ran towards a safe place.
At his trial, jurors were presented with a litany of texts and social media posts showing Perry’s disdain for the BLM protests that gripped the nation following the killing of George Floyd.
This included a Facebook message to a friend in May 2020, just weeks before shooting Foster, where he said he “might have to kill some people.”
Other messages included ‘White Power’ memes and a text from 2019 in which he said it was ‘a shame we don’t get paid to hunt Muslims in Europe.’
“It’s official that I’m racist because I don’t agree with people acting like animals at the zoo,” he said in another message. “I was on the side of the protesters until they started looting and violence.”
He added in another message that same day. He said the Black Lives Matter protests were like a “zoo full of scared monkeys throwing their shit.”
Perry’s lawyers said the messages were “barracks humor” and several Army colleagues testified that Perry was not a known racist.
Materials depicting Perry’s racist text messages and social media posts were shown on screen during Perry’s sentencing.
Prosecutors painted Perry as a racist and deranged Army soldier, while he claimed he acted in self-defense.
Whitney Mitchell, Garrett Foster’s fiancee, pictured testifying at Perry’s sentencing hearing. She is a quadruple amputee and Foster had been her caregiver for the past 11 years. ‘It’s difficult every day I’m there. “It’s hard to sleep in my bed because he’s not there,” she said.
When he was shot and killed, Foster was the full-time caregiver for his fiancée Whitney Mitchell, a quadruple amputee.
Mitchell testified against Perry at his trial and tearfully told jurors how his life had changed since her death, citing how Foster had been his sole caregiver for the past 11 years.
‘It’s difficult every day I’m there. “It’s hard to sleep in my bed because he’s not there,” she said.
‘He was my primary caregiver for 11 years and I’ve had friends who have been taking care of me and they have to learn to do all those things that Garrett was doing.
“It’s hard because I had to get comfortable being vulnerable.”