Army sergeant who fatally shot BLM protester in Texas sentenced to 25 years as governor seeks pardon

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A US Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed protester at a Black Lives Matter march in Texas was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday, after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist who may commit violence again.

Daniel Perry's sentence now pushes the case toward a potentially thorny decision for Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he wants to issue a swift pardon.

Abbott requested the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to send him a pardon recommendation for Perry shortly after he was convicted in April of killing Garrett Foster at the Austin march in July 2020.

Abbott lauded Texas' tough Stand Your Ground self-defence laws and said Perry was railroaded by a liberal prosecutor. Since then, Perry's trail of texts and online posts, including shockingly racist images, have been made public and the governor has stayed silent on the matter.

Abbott's office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the sentence or whether he still intends to issue a pardon. Perry, 36, could have received up to life in prison.

Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said Abbott moved too soon on the call for a pardon.

“Abbott clearly boxed himself into a corner,” when he appeared to respond to criticism from conservative former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who demanded the governor act, Jones said.

“I suspect if Governor Abbott had known all that he knows now, he would not have jumped the gun on pledging to pardon him,” Jones said.

The Pardons and Parole board, which is appointed by Abbott, has already started reviewing Perry's case. State law requires the board to recommend a pardon before the governor can act.

The case has been embroiled in politics as it came amid widespread demonstrations against police killings and racial injustice, following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Perry's attorneys on Wednesday called the case a “political prosecution” and the release of the texts and social media posts “character assassination.”

Attorney Clinton Broden said the defence team would pursue both a pardon and a standard appeal in the court system.

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