In May 2023, a Texas state district court judge sentenced Daniel Perry to 25 years in prison for the shooting death of U.S. Air Force veteran 28-year-old Garrett Foster during a 2020 Austin protest of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. More than a year after that sentence was handed down, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry after the Texas Board of Pardons recommended such a decision, and which Fox News and other right-wing media outlets had advocated for.
Unsealed court documents revealed that Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant, had made a slew of racist and anti-Muslim threatening comments about protesters in text messages and social media posts. Days after George Floyd’s murder prompted nationwide protests against police violence targeting people of color, Perry sent a text message saying, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”
An alternate juror in the trial of Daniel Perry said that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s rush for a pardon is an “egregious overreach” to wipe aside the jury’s unanimous conviction of Perry in the 2020 shooting. After the pardon, Texas Democratic party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa asserted that only in an authoritarian state can a murderer be fully pardoned at the direction of a Fox News TV personality and corrupt governor. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Steven Monacelli, an investigative journalist, who discusses Abbott’s controversial pardon that many view as recklessly giving a green light to vigilantism and political violence.
STEVEN MONACELLI: There are certainly echoes of the Rittenhouse case and the case of Daniel Perry, former United States Army sergeant — who was unanimously convicted of murder in April, 2023 — his act of killing Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran who was, as you mentioned, a Black Lives Matter activist and was participating in a protest at the time of his death. He was carrying an AK 47-style rifle in downtown Austin, which is legal in the state of Texas to open carry such a rifle. And Mr. Perry prior to the fateful incident, had communicated with some of his friends online, effectively revealing his sort of fantasies and desires to basically shoot what he viewed as looters.
There was one text message where he said, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” He had also discussed how he wanted to hunt Muslims and even, you know, very bizarrely and really disturbingly had even sent messages to a self-identified minor telling them that he wanted them to be his boyfriend, which, you know, he was not on trial for that.
But nonetheless, it reflects the unprecedented and bizarre nature of this pardon that came from Greg Abbott at a time, which is unusual for him to issue pardons. He usually does that on Dec. 23 every year. The pardon of Perry has caused a lot of response from across the political spectrum really revealing and reflecting the politicization of this instance. And many people, I think, myself included, see in this a message being sent as you alluded to, this is some sort of potential endorsement of sort of vigilantism against political causes that Gov. Abbott and his allies have spoken out against themselves. You know, and all of this is just really reflecting the state of politics, the sort of fever pitch that we’ve reached around these sorts of issues.
SCOTT HARRIS: The Republican party has associated itself with vigilante groups, armed militia groups like The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, and some have characterized these groups as the armed wing of the Republican party. And you have Donald Trump, of course, pretty much, straightforwardly embracing political violence and inviting it. We see that every day in his trials where he’s got gag orders for the threats that he poses on social media and his followers, his supporters often respond to. This pardon, in Texas, is this another signal to the right in this country that political violence is an acceptable way of expressing yourself?
STEVEN MONACELLI: I think that is one clear message that’s sent by this pardon. You have to consider that in Texas, we have a very strong stand your ground law. And, in this instance, Mr. Perry had driven out of his way to go to Austin to effectively find one of these protests that run a red light, put himself in a situation after fantasizing about committing violence against these very sorts of protesters. I don’t know what else could tell you that this man had sort of premeditated some intent here. And so for him to get off and for him to have his gun rights restored, I think sends a very clear message. And, it also raises the question of, you know, if we ostensibly have this right to self-defense, is it only to the person that shoots first? Could Mr. Foster not have been potentially endangered or felt threatened by the presence of someone trying to sort of drive their car into a crowd of protesters?
And there are reasons why people chose to start to, you know, sort of open carry weapons like this in response to threats perceived or real. And so, you know, it is a disturbing pattern that I think we’re seeing unfold where this sort of violence is held up as, you know, even potentially something to reward at least to something to be gotten away with in the context of this pardon. And ultimately, if we continue to see this sort of violence, and I think it’s something that we should hold our elected officials to account on, because as I think was written in The Bulwark, very well put — this case Mr. Foster’s death had all of the sort of hallmarks of a case that Republicans normally would like. You know, he was a veteran. He was open carrying. It’s just that he was a part of the “wrong” protests.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Steven Monacelli (18:27). More articles and opinion pieces are found in the Related Links section of this page.
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