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US Army sergeant convicted of murdering BLM protester asks for 10-year sentence, hopes for pardon

May 10, 2023 | | Print Article

Daniel Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant who was convicted last month of murdering a Black Lives Matter “protester” during the 2020 BLM riots, appeared for part one of a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

During the hearing, his lawyers asked that he receive only 10 years in prison based on his lack of criminal history and his difficulty with several psychological issues, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, according to CNN.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, portrayed him as a racist provocateur who’d purposefully traveled to Austin, the site of a BLM “protest,” looking for trouble. Based on this portrayal, they demanded he serve at least 25 years in prison.

Perry is expected back in court Wednesday for part two of the hearing. It’s presumed he’ll be sentenced at the time to anywhere between 5 to 99 years in prison.

This comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continues to push for Perry’s pardon:

“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,” he warned in a tweet posted after Perry’s conviction last month.

However, he continued by explaining that it’s not as simple as him just issuing a pardon — that due to local laws, he has to go through a process to pardon Perry.

“Unlike the President or some other states, the Texas Constitution limits the Governor’s pardon authority to only act on a recommendation by the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Texas law DOES allow the Governor to request the Board of Pardons and Paroles to determine if a person should be granted a pardon,” he wrote.

“I have made that request and instructed the Board to expedite the review. I look forward to approving the Board’s pardon recommendation as soon as it hits my desk. Additionally, I have already prioritized reining in rogue District Attorneys, and the Texas Legislature is working on laws to achieve that goal,” Abbott added.

Perry’s push to absolve Perry is based on copious evidence suggesting that he’d acted justifiably when he’d opened fire and killed armed BLM “protester” Garrett Foster.

According to a statement released by Perry’s lawyers following his arrest three years ago, on the night of the “protest” he was “driving for a ride share company in order to earn extra money.”

After dropping off a client in the vicinity of the “protest,” he tried proceeding to a “hot spot” to wait for another request when he ran into a mob of “protesters.”

“When Sgt. Perry turned on the Congress Avenue, several people started beating on his vehicle. An individual carrying an assault rifle, now known to be Garrett Foster, quickly approached the car and then motioned with the assault rifle for Mr. Perry to lower his window. Sgt. Perry initially believed the person was associated with law enforcement and complied with the command,” the lawyers wrote.

BLM extremists have a track record of terrorizing motorists like this.

After Perry rolled down his window, Foster proceeded to raise his assault rifle toward him, according to his lawyers.

“It was only then that Sgt. Perry, who carried a handgun in his car for his own protection while driving strangers in the ride share program, fired on the person to protect his own life,” they wrote.

After taking the shot that ultimately killed Foster, a BLM extremist, Perry came under fire from someone else in the crowd, so he promptly drove away from the scene and contacted the police.

Yet “prosecutors said Perry … initiated the fatal encounter on July 25, 2020, when he ran a red light and drove his vehicle into a crowd gathered at the protest,” according to CNN.

“Foster was openly carrying an assault-style rifle and approached Perry’s car and motioned for him to lower his window, at which point Perry fatally shot him with a handgun, prosecutors said,” CNN notes.

“I believe he was going to aim it at me. I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me, you know,” Perry told the authorities afterward.

Prosecutors also pointed to allegedly racist jokes Perry had made prior to the shooting.

“It is official I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo,” he reportedly wrote on Facebook a month before the shooting.

Vivek Saxena
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