The father of a North Texas native killed during an Austin protest in 2020 criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s full pardon for the man convicted of murder in the case.
Abbott announced the pardon just minutes after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles disclosed it had made a unanimous recommendation that Daniel Perry be pardoned and have his firearms rights restored, The Associated Press reported.
Perry has been held in state prison on a 25-year sentence since his 2023 conviction for fatally shooting Garrett Foster.
Foster was legally armed at the protest, which was among hundreds of demonstrations nationwide protesting police brutality and racial inequality.
The Republican governor had previously ordered the parole board to review Perry’s case and said earlier that he would sign a pardon if recommended. The board, which is appointed by the governor, announced its unanimous recommendation in a message posted on the agency website, and Abbott’s pardon swiftly followed.
A jury in Austin had convicted Perry, an ex-U.S. Army sergeant, of murder in the death of Foster, 28-year-old Air Force veteran, who had been carrying an AK-47 while marching in a Black Lives Matter protest. Perry was working as a ride-share driver in July 2020, when he turned his car onto a street crowded with demonstrators and shot Foster before driving off.
When reached by phone Thursday, Foster’s father, Steve, told The Dallas Morning News the pardon “makes no sense.”
“Looks like our justice system comes down to one person,” Steve Foster said, referring to Abbott. “A jury of peers doesn’t matter anymore. ... Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything again.”
Foster, 57, said there should be more “checks and balances” to ensure the governor cannot directly influence decisions of the board, which he said is full of “good ol’ boys and girls” who don’t want to upset Abbott.
Abbott called the shooting a case of self-defense.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” Abbott said in a statement accompanying the pardon.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza blasted the pardon as a “mockery of our legal system.”
“The board and the governor have put their politics over justice,” Garza said. “They should be ashamed of themselves. Their actions are contrary to the law and demonstrate that there are two classes of people in this state where some lives matter and some lives do not.”
A Republican in his third term, Abbott has typically issued pardons only for minor offenses, and he notably avoided a posthumous pardon recommendation for George Floyd for a 2004 drug arrest in Houston. It was Floyd’s killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020 that set off national demonstrations.
Abbott’s demand for a review of Perry’s case followed pressure from former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who on national television had urged the Republican governor to intervene after the sergeant was convicted. Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison after prosecutors used his social media history and text messages to portray him as a racist who may commit violence again.
Foster decried the television host’s influence on the governor and lamented that Perry’s social media accounts — including public posts and private messages about shooting protesters — weren’t made public until after Perry was convicted but before he was sentenced.
Foster, who lives in Colorado, said his family is preparing for a “backlash” after the latest news. He said his ex-wife and daughter, who still live in Texas, received the brunt of the insulting messages from strangers online.
“The hate — you should have seen the stuff we got,” Foster said, “and I’m sure it will all start over again.”
Foster’s girlfriend, Whitney Mitchell, was with Foster when he was killed. She called the pardon an act of “lawlessness.”
“With this pardon the governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and U.S. Air Force veteran and impugned that jury’s just verdict. He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his and different from those in power can be killed in this state with impunity,” Mitchell said.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Perry, who is white, could have driven away without opening fire, and witnesses testified that they never saw Garrett Foster raise his gun. The sergeant’s defense attorneys argued Garrett Foster, who also is white, did raise the rifle and that Perry had no choice but to shoot.
Steve Foster remembered his son Thursday as a “good man” who helped feed the unhoused in Austin, where he lived, and advocated on behalf of others, such as the LGBTQ community.
“He was a good man, somebody who stuck by the side of his fiance after she lost her limbs, and he marched for people’s rights,” Steve Foster said. “He was a better man than me, I tell you that.”
Reporting from The Associated Press’ Jim Vertuno contributed to this article.
