Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pardoned Daniel Perry, a man convicted of shooting a BLM rioter.

 

Daniel Perry. BBC/Reuters.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pardoned Daniel Perry, who had been convicted of homicide after shooting a BLM rioters who was armed with an AK47. BBC. Perry was driving an Uber and took a turn where BLM was protesting. Protesters attacked his car and Garrett Foster approached as well, armed with an AK47 and was raising his rifle. Perry shot Foster five times with a .357 magnum and fled the scene, calling the cops a minute later. Perry was convicted and Governor Abbott said he would pardon him as soon as the board of Pardons and Paroles recommended it. Perry was accused of racism at the trial despite the fact that Foster was a white man. 

My Comment:

The conviction of Daniel Perry was an absolute miscarriage of justice and this pardon was long overdue. The fact that Perry was in prison for almost a year and had to deal with all kinds of legal issue just because he defended himself from a guy pointing a rifle at him is beyond an injustice. Under Texas law, he should have been acquitted under grounds of self defense. 

Why did the jury convict him? Probably because of his "racist" comments, that had almost nothing to do with the case. The comments were borderline, but given Perry shot a white person, they were irrelevant. But I am guessing they prejudiced the jury into thinking he was some kind of deranged racist or something.  

But the facts of the case showed that it was pretty obviously self defense. A reasonable person would be afraid for their life if their car was being attacked at a mob. If one of those people was armed with an AK-47 and was bringing it up to point at the you, the vast majority of people would fear for their lives. Under that standard this was a clear case of self defense. 

Keep in mind that this wasn't just Governor Abbott's decision. The board of Pardons and Paroles recommended this based on their understanding of the law. People are bashing Abbott for this but the fact is that that if the board hadn't recommended it, Abbott could not have done a thing. 

I do think that this should serve as a warning to those that would attack armed civilians. Not only will you die, there is a good chance that justice will prevail in the end and you will have died for nothing. If BLM and Antifa want to peacefully protest they can, but if they attack people they should face consequences for it. 

The sad thing about this is that had Perry been attacked in a blue state he would never get out of prison. Indeed, the main reason he was charged in the first place is because the attack happened in a blue part of a red state. Thankfully Abbott and Texas respect the rule of law and were able to pardon Perry. But in many states he would have rotted in prison for many, many years...