Daniel Perry's attorney, victim's mother speak out after full pardon
AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott issued a full pardon for Daniel Perry on Thursday.
Perry is a former U.S. Army Sgt. convicted of murdering Garrett Foster, a legally-armed Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. He was then sentenced to 25 years in prison.
This came right after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon for Perry following a unanimous vote.
Perry's attorney filed a motion for a retrial in April 2023, alleging in court documents that key evidence was kept from jurors and jury misconduct. That motion was rejected in May 2023.
Shortly after his conviction but before his sentencing, Abbott called on the board to review Perry's case so he could approve it.
Perry was released from prison Thursday.
"My son is never going to have justice now, and I can't live with that. He deserved so much better than what he's getting," Sheila Foster, Garrett Foster's mother, said.
Doug O'Connell, Perry's attorney, says a video of an expert reenactment wasn't shown to be the jury, but the Pardon Board got to see it.
"This video evidence that was not admitted in trial shows that a bullet from an AK-47 easily goes through a soft skin car door," he said. "It's very, very reasonable for [Perry] to have perceived that barrel was pointed at his body, and he only had fractions of seconds of time to react."
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"Garrett was not a threat. Ever. The only thing that happened is Daniel Perry ran through a red light into a crowd of people," Sheila Foster said. "They say the car was swamped. No, the car was not swamped. He didn't even have to stop his car because as soon as he ran that red light into those people, they scattered."
When it comes to the "Stand Your Ground" law, O'Connell says, "in Texas law, when you're threatened with unlawful force, you do not have a duty to run away."
Foster's mother disagrees with Abbott's reasoning.
"It was all proven false in trial. It's all lies," she said.
She and Garza both say Abbott's decision was political.
"This is the governor of Texas, who is all about Second Amendment rights and open carry. He's basically saying, 'my son deserved to die for open carry,'" she said.
O'Connell says he and Perry will decide next week what he wants to do going forward and whether he wants to rejoin the military.