Abbott Pardon Of Daniel Perry A Warning For Pro-Democracy Protestors

Last week Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry who killed a Black Lives Matter protestor in Austin in 2020.

From The Texas Tribune:

"More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a protester in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry, 37, on Thursday shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon...A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a 2020 demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color....One day after a jury convicted Perry, Abbott directed the parole board to review the former U.S. Army sergeant’s case. ...Shortly after Perry’s conviction, unsealed court documents revealed he had made a slew of racist threatening comments  about protesters in text messages and social media posts. Days after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer prompted nationwide protests, Perry sent a text message saying, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” Both Perry and Foster are white. Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant also sent racist and anti-Muslim messages before and after Floyd's death. "

The message is clear. It is fine to shoot and kill protesters in Greg Abbott's Texas.  

In the week since the pardon, the Austin American-Statesman reported that the Austin police department had drafted a letter calling for Mr. Perry to be pardoned. 

From The Statesman: 
​
"Days before Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry for killing a Black Lives Matter protester, the Austin Police Department drafted a two-page letter to state officials advocating that Perry be freed...The document, on departmental letterhead, echoes the belief of the lead investigator in the case that the prosecution of Perry in the shooting death of Garrett Foster was based on “conjecture,” “innuendo” and a “character assassination” of Perry, who wrote racist and threatening social media posts...The draft, obtained by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV on Tuesday, bears the signature line of interim Police Chief Robin Henderson...The letter rejects the guilty verdict of a Travis County jury a year earlier and reiterates the Police Department’s finding that the shooting was justified, adding, “Mr. Perry should have never been charged.”

No surprise. Yet still, when will city police departments reflect the values of the people who pay their salaries? It is not difficult to imagine urban police forces in Texas simply taken under the command of the far-right state government, just as the state has taken control of Houston's public schools.

Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. Texas Republicans have passed a law allowing them to take over Harris County elections. We may well need to be in the streets. You can bet good money that protestors demanding that election results be respected, will get the same treatment and "justice" from State of Texas officials and local police as did pro-Palestinian protestors at the U. of Texas and the murdered protestor Garrett Foster.   

We can't be afraid. But we must be aware & be ready to meet the many challenges ahead.         

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