Attorneys for Sergeant Daniel Perry (pictured) say the shooting in Austin was clearly in self-defense as BLM protestor Garrett Foster, armed with an AK-47, approached Perry's car in July 2020. But prosecutors charged Perry in the killing, arguing Foster did not raise his weapon toward Perry. On Friday, an Austin jury found Perry guilty after an eight-day trial and two days of deliberation. The 33-year-old serviceman faces up to life in prison when sentenced.
Abbott has responded to the verdict by pointing out his state "has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney." The Republican governor has since vowed to pardon Perry.
Cathie Adams is a former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. She tells AFN she is "very grateful" to Abbott for doing "the right thing."
"And I'm also very grateful to Tucker Carlson [with Fox News] for pointing out the need for that action," she continues. And in a reference to the Lone Star State: "We're very, very pleased to live in a place where right and wrong are still being called correctly."
Adams doubts a call to pardon Sgt. Perry would have happened if the incident had occurred in a deep blue state.
"It is amazing that you can live in the state of California and you defend yourself and you're going to be called a criminal," Adams states. "[Daniel Perry] did the right thing to defend himself – and who knows how many other lives he may have saved in the process."
At the time of the incident, Perry was stationed at Fort Hood, north of Austin, and was working for Uber when he turned onto a street and into a large crowd of demonstrators in downtown Austin. The BLM demonstrators in the capital had been marching in the streets for weeks following the widely publicized death of George Floyd.
