Texas court asked to reverse pardon in Black Lives Matter protest killing

[June 05, 2024]  By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - A Texas prosecutor asked the state's highest criminal court on Tuesday to reverse a pardon granted by Governor Gregg Abbott to a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, a Democrat whose office tried the murder case, said he asked the state Court of Criminal Appeals for a special order, called a writ of mandamus, to overturn Abbott's action.

Garza told a news briefing in the state capital of Austin that Abbott, a Republican, violated the separation of powers doctrine of the state's constitution and failed to follow proper legal procedures in the way he pardoned Daniel Perry last month.

Abbott's office did not immediately respond to Reuters' request seeking comment on Garza's move.

Perry, convicted last year, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting Garrett Foster, a U.S. Air Force veteran, in July 2020 during the protest against racial injustice following the George Floyd killing by police in Minneapolis months earlier.

Foster, 28, was white, as is Perry.

Perry, then 37, insisted he was acting in self-defense and opened fire because Foster was brandishing an AK-47 rifle at him. The trial presented conflicting accounts on whether Foster leveled his rifle at Perry.

Prosecutors said Foster, who was legally armed at the time, had approached Perry's car to protect his fellow protesters, believing Perry might assault them with his vehicle.

The jury sided against Perry, whose case became a cause celebre for political conservatives.

On May 16, immediately acting on the recommendation of the state's pardons board, Abbott granted a full pardon to Perry, citing the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense laws, one of the strongest such measures in the U.S.

On Tuesday, Garza told reporters the board and Abbott had "put their politics over justice and made a mockery of the legal system."

The district attorney said Abbott exceeded his authority by intervening in the murder case before allowing the appellate process to play out, and thus "prohibited the judiciary from doing its work."

Beyond the separation-of-powers issue, Garza told reporters the board and governor failed to abide by pardon eligibility rules set by the law, adding, "They didn't even come close to meeting those standards in this case."

Appearing with Garza on Tuesday, Foster's mother, Shiela Foster, vowed her family would "fight this until we get justice for Garrett."

Garza filed his writ request a week after the attorneys general of 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, all Democrats, urged the U.S. Justice Department to open a federal civil rights investigation into Foster's killing.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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