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The governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, pardoned this Thursday a man convicted of murdering an armed protester during one of the massive protests of the Black Lives Matter movement. [BLM, Las Vidas Negras Importan] in 2020 in U.S.
“Daniel Perry fired his gun at Garrett Foster to eliminate what he considered a threat to his safety,” Abbott, a conservative Republican, said in his pardon resolution.
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Perry, a U.S. Army sergeant and taxi driver, said he came upon a demonstration in his vehicle. Austincapital of Texas, southern United States, in July 2020. The crowd was protesting against racism and police brutality, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, committed by police officers two months earlier.
In the middle of a confrontation, Perry fired his gun at Garrett Fostera 28-year-old white protester who legally carried an AK-47 rifle.
Perry argued that he fired to defend himself, although the prosecution considered that he himself provoked the confrontation. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but Abbott, responding to an outcry from conservative groups, announced last year that he would seek to pardon him and requested the intervention of the Pardons and Parole Board. Texas.
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After the conviction, racist posts by Perry on his social networks were revealed, where he compared the protesters to animals or monkeys, and messages where he expressed his desire to kill them.
This Thursday,”after a thorough examination of the information collected” the Board of Pardons reported that it “voted unanimously to recommend full pardon and restoration of the rights of [porte y uso de] firearms” by Perry, now 37.
“Texas has one of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ self-defense laws [Defiende Tu Posición] stricter laws that cannot be overturned by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” Abbott said in a statement. “I thank the Council for its thorough investigation and approve its recommendation for clemency,” he added.
His decision was supported by the attorney general of Texasconservative Ken Paxton, who assured on the social network X that the BLM movement “terrorized” the country in 2020.
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But Travis County District Attorney José Garza, a Democrat who prosecuted the case, rejected the resolution. “The Council and the Governor put their politics before justice and made a mockery of our legal system (….) They should be ashamed,” he said in a statement released to the press.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
