BREAKING: Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardons Daniel Perry after conviction for shooting armed agitator during BLM riots

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a full pardon and restoration of rights for Daniel Perry, the former Army sergeant who was found guilty of murder for the fatal shooting of Garrett Foster during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest while Perry was an Uber driver.

"The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles conducted an exhaustive review of U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Perry’s personal history and the facts surrounding the July 2020 incident and recommended a Full Pardon and Restoration of Full Civil Rights of Citizenship," said Abbott in a statement.

"Among the voluminous files reviewed by the Board, they considered information provided by the Travis County District Attorney, the full investigative report on Daniel Perry, plus a review of all the testimony provided at trial. 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. I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation."

Perry, who was driving for Uber at the time, encountered an armed BLM group that had taken over the streets of Austin, Texas during a riot on July 25, 2020. Perry originally faced one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The jury did not find him guilty of the second charge.

The Austin Police Department said that a car turned onto Congress Avenue near 4th Street at 9:51 pm. Protestors who were marching in the area surrounded the car, and Foster, who was part of the group, was armed with a rifle.

“I made a wrong turn, a guy pointed a freakin weapon at me and I panicked. I don’t know what to do. I’m just an Uber driver. I made a wrong turn; I’ve never had to shoot someone before. They started shooting back at me, and I got out of the area,” Perry told a 911 operator that night.

the driver, who was later identified as Perry, fired five shots from inside of his vehicle, hitting Foster. Foster did not fire, but another member of the group fired three shots at the vehicle. Perry and the other shooter were detained. 

Perry’s defense team said during opening statements at the trial that Perry had to defend himself when he was swarmed by the group, Perry did everything he could to avoid the protestors as he dropped off one of his riders downtown, and that he was fully cooperative with police, giving over his phone and providing social media passwords immediately without a warrant.

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