Former Army Sgt. Daniel Perry in an undated booking photo. (Austin Police Department)
AUSTIN, Texas — A request by a county prosecutor in Texas to reverse the pardon of a former Army sergeant who was convicted of fatally shooting an Air Force veteran during a racial protest was denied by the state’s highest criminal appeals court.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s pardon of Daniel Perry in May came about one year after he was sentenced in a Travis County courtroom to 25 years in prison for the death of Garrett Foster in downtown Austin on July 25, 2020.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not offer an explanation in the document issued last week denying the request. It came about three weeks after José Garza, the district attorney of Travis County, filed the request and said the pardon “made a mockery of our legal system.”
Travis County district attorney José Garza speaks at a news conference on June 4, 2024, with Sheila Foster, mother of Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, who was fatally shot by Army Sgt. Daniel Perry in 2020. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
Garza’s office has not publicly commented on the denial and declined Monday to provide a statement.
The shooting occurred during a Black Lives Matter protest and became a talking point of conservative media. Foster, 28, was carrying an assault rifle in downtown Austin during a Black Lives Matter protest, when Perry, who was working a side job as a rideshare driver, turned his car into a group of protesters. Perry, who was also armed, said he shot Foster because Foster pointed his rifle at Perry’s car.
Perry, 37, was convicted of murder on April 7, 2023, and Abbott called for a pardon review within 18 hours of the verdict, citing Perry’s right to self-defense.
Perry, who enlisted in 2012, was stationed at Fort Cavazos, about 70 miles north of Austin, at the time of the shooting. Afterward, he was moved to Fort Wainwright in Alaska. He received an other-than-honorable discharge in March, which means he could no longer face military charges.
Garza, who argued the governor’s pardon exceeded his constitutional authority, announced his request last month during a news conference with Foster’s family alongside him.
“We had justice for Garrett for 18 hours after waiting three years for a trial,” said Sheila Foster, Garrett Foster’s mother.
