AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request to consider whether to overturn Gov. Greg Abbott’s pardon for a man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester.
The all-Republican appeals court’s decision Wednesday at least temporarily blocked a prosecutor’s claims that the governor overstepped his pardon power under the state Constitution and undermined the appeals process in the politically charged case.
The court ruled without any explanation. It was not immediately clear whether Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza would ask the court to reconsider the decision and continue his efforts to overturn the pardon.
Abbott, a Republican, pardoned Daniel Perry in May in the 2020 shooting of Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a rally in downtown Austin, one of several across the country at the time protesting police brutality and racial injustice after the killing on George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Perry, a white ride-share driver, said he accidentally drove into the rally, where he encountered Foster, who was also white and legally carrying a gun. Perry said Foster pointed a gun at him, but witnesses told police Foster did not raise his weapon.
A jury convicted Perry of murder and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. But Perry was released within hours of being pardoned. Garza and Foster’s family want him sent back to prison.
Abbott backed Perry’s claim that he acted in self-defense and said “Stand Your Ground” laws should have protected him from prosecution.
Nationally prominent conservatives had rallied behind Perry, and Garza accused Abbott of politically motivated pardons.
Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, has called the pardon “absolutely unacceptable to our family.”
Garza has said he believes the case is unique in the state’s history, from the quick request for the pardon and its approval, to his request for the appeals court to intervene.
Abbott has said his constitutional pardon powers are clear.
“WON’T HAPPEN,” the governor posted on X shortly after Garza announced his plans to engineer a reversal.
Before sentencing, the court released dozens of pages of text messages and social media posts that showed Perry had hostile views about the Black Lives Matter protests.
In May this year, fourteen Democratic attorneys general said the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate whether Perry Foster denied his rights to freedom of speech and peaceful protest.
Perry served in the military for more than a decade. During the trial, a forensic psychologist testified that he believed Perry had post-traumatic stress disorder from his deployment to Afghanistan and from being bullied as a child. At the time of the shooting, Perry was stationed at Fort Cavazos, then Fort Hood, about 70 miles north of Austin.
