Governor Greg Abbott, Texas’s Republican governor, announced on Saturday that he is seeking a pardon for Uber driver Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murder for shooting a protester during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020. Abbott said he has asked the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend a pardon and that he will approve the board’s recommendation as soon as it reaches his desk. Under Texas law, a board recommendation is required before the governor can act.
Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant and part‑time ride‑hailing driver, claimed he was driving through Austin when he turned onto a street filled with demonstrators protesting the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Police reported that Perry honked at the crowd and attempted to drive through. Garrett Foster, a 28‑year‑old white man, was legally carrying an AK‑47 rifle. The jury heard conflicting testimony about whether Foster pointed the rifle, but Perry—who is also white—said he feared for his life and fired a handgun he was legally carrying. Perry’s lawyers argued that Texas’s “Stand Your Ground” law justified his actions, a view Abbott endorsed, stating that Texas has one of the strongest self‑defense statutes that cannot be overridden by a jury or a progressive district attorney.
The Texas Republican Party had urged Abbott to issue the pardon, noting that he had granted two pardons last year and eight in 2021, all for lower‑level offenses, according to the Texas Tribune. While Texas Republicans praised the decision, Democratic state legislator Sarah Eckhardt condemned it as “a stunning and dangerous abrogation of the rule of law that will embolden more armed confrontations and inevitable tragedies.” The controversy surrounding “Stand Your Ground” laws has persisted since the 2013 Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman of murdering unarmed Black teen Trayvon Martin, a case that sparked national debate over the doctrine.
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