In an unusual gesture, the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, He said he is ready to pardon an Uber driver convicted Friday of killing a protester during the 2020 major mobilizations against racism and police violence.
Daniel Perry, a 33-year-old soldier who drove rental cars in his spare time, found himself in the middle of a crowd of protesters in Austin, in the southern United States, in July 2020.
His lawyers claimed at trial that Perry acted in self-defense when he gave himshot Garrett Foster five times with his pistol, 28, after the man approached her vehicle pointing an assault rifle.
Prosecutors countered that Perry could have withdrawn and that it was he who started the confrontation.
According to the local Austin American-Statesman newspaper, Prosecutors Submitted Messages Perry Posted On Social Media before the tragedy. In one of them he wrote: “I might kill some people on the way to work, there’s a riot below my apartment.”
After two days of deliberation, a popular jury found him guilty of murder. He faces a life sentence. The sentence will be pronounced shortly.
Without even waiting for the defense to appeal, Governor Abbott said that asked the pardon office from your state to review Perry’s case.
“I am ready to endorse your recommendation as soon as it hits my desk,” he added in a statement released late Saturday.
He explained that he intends to defend “the strong self-defense law ‘Stand your ground’ (ndlr, ‘defend your position’)” in force in his state, which authorizes a person to use deadly force if considered in grave dangereven if he has any chance of escape.
This trial is reminiscent of Kyle Rittenhouse’swho killed two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the sidelines of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer.
Thenthe young man also claimed self-defense, and he was acquitted. Since then he has become a hero of the extreme right.
The governor’s announcement sparked new discussions between Republicans and Democrats.
Local Democratic lawmaker Sarah Eckhardt denounced a “terrifying and dangerous attack on the rule of law”according to the Texas Tribune newspaper, as Republicans endorsed Abbott.
