AUSTIN, Texas-- A U.S. Army sergeant prepares to appeal his 25-year jail sentence for fatally shooting an armed guy during a Black Lives Matter protest in Texas, and will work together with efforts by the state's Republican governor to issue a pardon, his attorney said Wednesday.
Daniel Perry, 36, was founded guilty of murder in April for eliminating 28-year-old Garrett Foster throughout the downtown
Austin protest in July 2020.
" After three long years we're lastly getting justice for Garrett," the victim's mom, Sheila Foster, informed the court after sentencing Wednesday.
" Mr. Perry, I pray to God that a person day, he will get rid of all this hate that remains in your heart," she said.
Perry attorney Clinton Broden said in a declaration that his customer would appeal. He called Perry's conviction the item of "political prosecution" and stated the defense team would "fully comply in the pardon process."
Perry's conviction prompted outrage from popular conservatives, and Gov. Greg Abbott, pointing out Texas' Stand Your Ground laws, has actually stated he would sign a pardon when a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles hits his desk.
The board-- which is stacked with Abbott appointees-- is examining Perry's case on the guv's orders, however it is unclear when it will reach a decision.
District Judge Clifford Brown provided a statement throughout sentencing that didn't attend to the potential pardon directly. However he firmly insisted that Perry had a "impartial and fair trial" and that the jury's decision "deserves our honor and it should have to be respected."
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza stated it was Abbott "who chose to insert politics in this case."
Garza stated he's been in touch with the board and has been ensured that district attorneys will be enabled to present a case against a pardon, and that it will include a discussion from Foster's household.
The pardon procedure is a valuable look at the court system, Broden stated.
" Those who declare that Governor Abbott's revealed intent is based upon politics just select to ignore the reality that it was only the political machinations of a rogue district attorney which caused Sgt. Perry's prosecution in the first circumstances," he stated.
Perry was stationed at Fort Hood, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of
Austin, when the shooting took place. He had actually just dropped off a ride-share consumer and turned onto a street filled with protesters.
Perry said he was attempting to get past the crowd and fired his handgun when Foster pointed a rifle at him. Witnesses affirmed that they did not see Foster raise his weapon, and prosecutors argued that Perry might have repelled without shooting.
Perry said he acted in self-defense. His lawyers asked the judge to consider his more than a decadelong military profession and hand down a sentence of no greater than 10 years. Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee has actually said Perry is categorized as in "civilian confinement" pending separation from the military.
On Tuesday, district attorneys sent into proof dozens of texts and social networks posts Perry wrote, liked or shared, consisting of some shockingly racist images. They had actually been left out from Perry's trial, however were publicly launched after his conviction and allowed into the sentencing stage by Brown.
" This man is a crammed gun, ready to go off at any viewed danger," prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez said, prompting Brown to issue a sentence of at least 25 years. "He's going to do it once again."
Perry, who is white, was working as a ride-share driver in downtown
Austin on July 25, 2020, when he shot and eliminated Foster, an Air Force veteran. Foster, who was likewise white, was legally bring an AK-47 rifle as he participated in the demonstration against authorities killings and racial injustice, following the death of George Floyd, a Black guy, by a white
Minneapolis policeman.
Among Perry's statements presented Tuesday, he wrote on Facebook a month before the shooting: "It is official I am a racist since I do not concur with people acting like animals at the zoo."
Floyd was eliminated on May 25, 2020. A few days later on as demonstrations erupted, Perry sent out a text to an associate: "I might go to
Dallas to shoot looters."
Perry attorney Douglas O'Connell argued that the texts and posts were presented by prosecutors out of context, which Perry has a right to totally free speech.
" Some of those social media posts are frankly repugnant," O'Connell said, while categorizing others as "dark humor."
Foster was with his sweetheart, Whitney Mitchell, who is Black and uses a wheelchair, when Perry gunned him down.
" Black lives mattered to Garrett," his mother told the courtroom Wednesday. "The love of his life was a Black woman."
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