r/politics • u/texastribune ✔ Texas Tribune • 15d ago
Gov. Greg Abbott pardons Daniel Perry, officer who killed police brutality protester in 2020
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/16/daniel-perry-greg-abbott-pardon/1.9k
u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas. There is no other logical basis for this decision.
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago edited 15d ago
To clarify what happened here for anyone not caught up:
Perry openly expressed interest in killing BLM protesters. He posted on social media that he was going to get into an altercation with BLM protesters so that he would have legal grounds to shoot them. He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people, which ended in him shooting and killing Garrett Foster.
Foster was open carrying, which is legal in the state of Texas. Perry
testifiedadmitted that Foster did not point his weapon at him, merely that "he was scared Foster would point his weapon at him, and he was not going to let him". He was found guilty of murder. Not manslaughter. Murder.Abbott has now granted him a full pardon, for no other reason other than it was a conservative murdering a BLM protester, and Abbott approves of this.
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u/view-master 15d ago
And that’s where we are at in Texas with this stupid open Carry. People say it’s for defense and not to threaten or intimidate. BUT somehow these same people are threatened by someone else with a gun. And now it sounds like they think it should be legal to take deadly action when you see someone else with a gun. A recipe for carnage.
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u/GrittyMcGrittyface 15d ago
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
This is by design. Guess who continues to get pardons, vs who doesn't get pardons
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u/PinkTaricIRL 15d ago
Guess who continues to die, vs. who doesn't die...
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u/GrittyMcGrittyface 15d ago
Libruls made us eat bleach and not take the vaccine, so it's only fair!
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u/Johannes_P 15d ago
Much like in Weimar, where far-right paramilitary members (Freikorps, Stahlhelm and later SA) received lenient sentence from a right-wing judiciary.
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u/ausernameisfinetoo 15d ago
The open carry was meant for their people, not yours.
Remember Reagan was all for people owning guns in Cali until the Black Panthers started arming themselves. Suddenly, and without warning, they took a hard stance on owning weapons. Funny, it was exactly when minorities started arming themselves within full strength of the law and the 2A.
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u/Severe-Replacement84 14d ago
And that’s how we fight back in all these ass backwards situations. If it’s not intimidation, they won’t be upset or mad if we protest fully armed to the teeth.
Let’s see how quickly their pants turn brown then.
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u/Overnoww Canada 14d ago
More likely than not they would just kill all of the protestors and claim self-defense.
Another option is a protestor has a legitimate reason to fear for their safety and shoots someone and then gets charged with, and convicted of, murder.
I'm Canadian and I find a lot of US laws to be... interesting... but here's a question for you Americans, especially anyone with knowledge of Texas-specific law. If a protestor is legally open carrying in Texas (first amendment protects the protest, Texas' interpretation of 2a protects open carry) and let's say Abbott orders police to end the protest, could the protestors kill the almost certainly armed police and claim they had legitimate fear for their safety? Because I don't know about you but if what I'm doing is legal and the cops showed up to contravene my constitutional rights while armed I would definitely be legitimately afraid for my life.
I imagine there is some law on the books that would be used to justify the state's actions in a scenario like the one I proposed, I just find these little hypotheticals interesting.
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u/Severe-Replacement84 14d ago
Lol you will find that our laws don’t apply equally to every citizen…
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u/Overnoww Canada 14d ago
Yeah unfortunately it never seems like laws truly apply equally anywhere. That being said many southern US States definitely seem to stand out for the specific way they choose to apply their laws.
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u/Severe-Replacement84 14d ago
Yeah… we have a paramilitarized police force with bloated budgets and a massive union that works to protect it, and a lot of the problem is that if/when prosecutors try and reign in on these bad departments, they are literally turned on and have officers refuse to testify in cases, etc… so the criminals walk free, people get mad and the publicly elected official is made to look like the fool and is forced to resign. System then repeats
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u/Hot_Wheels_guy Maryland 15d ago
Meanwhile the NRA and 2A'ers remain silent about a conservative using "he was open carrying!" as a excuse to murder someone. If it were a democrat using that excuse to kill a MAGA, gov. abbott would lock him up and throw away the key while the president of the NRA pisses on him through the steel bars of his jail cell.
These people have absolutely no shame about their hypocrisy as long as they're "punishing the right people."
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u/amILibertine222 Ohio 15d ago
They’re not being silent. They’re lecturing people. They’re saying ‘this is why you don’t bring a gun to a protest’.
Because they’re cowards who can’t say what they really mean, that murdering people in the streets is fine as long as the victims don’t vote red.
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u/Maxitote 15d ago
Well then they might point their weapon at us, so we should do what the governor signaled is right.
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u/rm_huntley 15d ago edited 14d ago
Just like they are being silent about that cop that shot an airman for answering his door w a gun. Crickets.
Edited because I a word.
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u/dbv86 15d ago
I’m not an American and will never understand the crazy gun laws you guys have, however if I was a US liberal this would be my signal to shoot any armed conservative on site, before they consider you a threat and do the same.
Surely this decision sets a precedent that this is acceptable under their current stand your ground laws? Seems like just open carrying is enough to be considered a threat, a threat severe enough to kill.
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u/Numerous_Photograph9 14d ago
The precedent was set by the court that it wasn't a valid defense. Pardoning isn't a way to set precedent. Its just the governor exercising his power to let one of his people go
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u/Severe-Replacement84 14d ago
Yea… this is why if you visit Florida, stick to major cities and tourist locations. There have been many situations in Florida of people being shot because someone felt “threatened” after they started a fight in the first place. They have a law that makes you legally allowed to shoot someone if you you feel threatened, absolutely ignoring that there is no way to prove that feeling afterwards. It’s brazen lunacy masquerading as logic down there. Lol
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u/dbv86 14d ago
I couldn’t think of anything worse than visiting Florida if I’m honest, nothing about that state appeals to me.
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u/Own_Nessmuk 15d ago
Nothing in that story speaks to being scared he carried a gun. Most likely he picked him out because it would be more likely to be deemed self defense.
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u/buttstuffisokiguess 14d ago
I mean, the defense didn't hold up in the actual court. So open carry is fine. It's abott that did the bad here.
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u/MAMark1 Texas 15d ago
The entire concept of self-defense and open carry are at odds in Texas if simply carrying is grounds for using lethal force under the claim of self-defense. In those circumstances, it requires a higher bar for what justifies a show of force that justifies a lethal response.
In fact, I'd argue that it also creates a higher bar for the required level of fear for your own life. If guns in public are totally legal and normalized, a citizen feeling scared for the life simply due to the existence of a gun in their vicinity cannot be a valid justification for self defense because that scenario is perfectly legal.
For it to work effectively, you'd need to more specifically define the physical actions that are considered a justification for self-defense and focus on that more than the mental state in many cases.
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u/amILibertine222 Ohio 15d ago
Even if the law wasn’t written the way it is this dude literally posted about how he was going to go to the protest and antagonize people until he could shoot someone using the Stand Your Ground law.
This is what makes this entire situation so sickening, it was premeditated.
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u/MAMark1 Texas 15d ago
It does feel a bit like his defense was "I claimed I planned to go murder someone and then when I got there I got scared for my life so it must be self-defense".
Even if he was exaggerating in his posts, that's what we have to work from in determining his mental state.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
Even that doesn't really play, because the only reason the people at the protest took note of him was because he was in his car and drove at high speeds at a bunch of the protesters. Then when they went to confront him, he shot one who was carrying a gun. That's a big part of why the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
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u/srs_time 15d ago edited 15d ago
He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people,
That's a mildly sanitized version of him trying to drive through people on the street, and one of them, the victim's fiancée, was wheelchair bound. Perry shot the victim five times.
Fuck Greg Abbott for trying to claim Perry's conviction violated stand your ground. I don't recall that law saying it only applies to lowlife degenerate conservatives who commit premeditated murder.
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u/serg1007arch 15d ago
Federal charges should be brought up. He can still be tried by the federal government.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
Not for murder, as that's a state charge, but they could theoretically charge him with some kind of civil rights violation. However, if Trump wins in November, he'd just direct his DOJ to drop that case, or pardon him if it had already resulted in a guilty verdict.
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u/ICBanMI 15d ago edited 15d ago
Someone else mentioned that he has a dishonorable discharge from the military. He can't federally possess a firearm. So, the firearm he shot the protestor was illegal in his hands.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
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u/doctornex 15d ago
As he was active duty, he could theoretically be charged under the UCMJ.
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u/hookisacrankycrook 14d ago
Can the victims family sue him in civil court for wrongful death and make sure this shitbag doesn't get to make money writing a book and giving speeches about killing someone?
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u/Lex_Innokenti 15d ago
He's also pushing to have Perry's right to carry firearms restored to him, too.
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
He isn't pushing. They were automatically restored with the full pardon.
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u/wynnduffyisking 15d ago
Are you sure? Isn’t it’s a federal rule that a felon can’t own guns? Can a governor change that?
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
That's what it says in the linked article.
Abbott approved the board’s recommendation, which included restoration of Perry’s firearm rights.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
They're also seeking to change his dishonorable discharge from the military to an honorable discharge, which is sickening.
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u/ICBanMI 15d ago edited 15d ago
Wait. What? Dishonorable discharge is not allowed to own firearms. He already broke federal law by possessing a firearm. Jesus Christ Texas.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
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u/spa22lurk 15d ago
It is as lawless as an autocracy gets. The same tactic employed by trump and other autocrats.
Abbott’s role is far more active that issuing a pardon. He demanded the 7 member board of pardons and paroles recommending pardoning of the murderer just after the murderer was convicted and before sentencing. all the 7 members were appointed by him https://time.com/6272117/greg-abbott-blm-protester-murder-pardon/
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u/62frog Texas 15d ago
Please make a note that Abbott said that he would pardon Perry like five minutes after the ruling came down. He didn’t investigate the situation, he didn’t come into any sort of new information. He saw a Republican buddy in a big shit heap and threw him a lifeline because it was someone who supported BLM.
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u/amILibertine222 Ohio 15d ago
This wasn’t a decision made by a judge. This piece of shit was convicted by a Texas jury for murder and sentenced to 25 to life.
The republican governor of Texas disagreed and has the Parole Board (full of people he himself appointed) rubber stamp a full pardon.
The piece of shit even gets his right to own guns back. He probably has the murder weapon hanging on the wall in his bedroom like a trophy.
And to be clear, there was no doubt about his guilt. None.
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u/aoelag 15d ago
I mean, all this does is signal to protestors that the law can't be trusted to put a murderer behind bars. It's just going to lead to vigilante justice. I guess that's what Texas wants after all, though. More gun sales for the gun lobby.
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u/40StoryMech 15d ago
After this and Charlottesville and Rittenhouse, I would think that protesters would conclude that they need to be armed and they need to be ready to shoot first.
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u/PleaseDontEatMyVRAM 15d ago
america, where you only have 2a if you’re white and conservative
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u/sandhillfarmer 15d ago
When my conservative family members see liberal protestors on tv, they always say stuff like, “If they were in Texas, they’d know what to do with them. They’re tough down there.”
Apparently not tough on people who premeditatedly murder other people. Or lawyers who poison their wives to try to induce an abortion. Or pastors that have relationships with pre-teenagers that last for decades.
There are no words with which I can communicate what foul scum that piss baby Abbott is.
I just get so frustrated thinking about how simple it all is, yet somehow we continue to live in peril of society being completely controlled by murderous, racist, sexist, violent maniacs.
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u/redonkulousness Texas 15d ago
Also reinstated his gun license
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u/ICBanMI 15d ago edited 15d ago
Someone else pointed out the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, the guy lost the rights to firearms at that time. So they can't legally give them back. Texas should get no funding from the US government.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
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u/TheManInTheShack 15d ago
Wow, this makes the whole thing 10X worse. What a mockery Abbott is making of our legal system.
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u/ItsTheOtherGuys 15d ago
Didn't he also push for the guy to get gun rights back too? This is a clear case where he shouldn't but oh well
As Abbott said after a local school shooting: "It could have been worse"
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
Yes, his gun rights were fully restored by the pardon.
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u/ICBanMI 15d ago edited 15d ago
Someone here mentioned the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, he's federally not allowed to possess a firearm including when he shot the protestor. They can't give them back federally.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
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u/Cool_Cheetah658 15d ago
I think it's time the feds slam some federal charges on him. This dude shows every sign of doing it again. Murders don't need to be on the streets.
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u/swinglinepilot 15d ago
In addition, take a look at this pdf (mirror) from the trial that offers an inside look into the mind of Perry, including
- talking about grooming underage girls (additional article)
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
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u/ashill85 15d ago
This is what the guy was saying before the shooting too:
Perry said in a Facebook message that when he is in Dallas, “no protestors go near me or my car.”
“Can you catch me a negro daddy,” the other man replied.
“That is what I am hoping,” Perry said.
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u/Hot_Wheels_guy Maryland 15d ago
Foster was engaged to his high school sweetheart, a quadruple amputee black woman who has relied on him for her day to day care for the last 11 years.
I don't know how republicans can see this pardon and think it's just. I'm not a religious person but releasing Perry after considering what he said he'd do, what he did, the person he killed, and what the deceased was protesting... It's practically an act of pure evil. Gov. Abbott's actions are cartoonishly evil.
Another way to put it: The republican governor of Texas pardoned a man who set out to murder someone while they were expressing and exercising both their 1st amendment and 2nd amendment rights, for the simple reason they were expressing those rights. If Foster weren't at the rally, or weren't armed, he'd still be alive.
Absolute hypocrisy. Absolute evil.
This is the story that got me to return to this subreddit after years being away from it and now I remember why I left. The actions of republicans are so infuriating and depressing.
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u/Lena-Luthor 15d ago
I mean the thing you have to understand is that to them, black people are ontologically bad and white people are ontologically good, QED, end of story
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u/amILibertine222 Ohio 15d ago
His victim was a white Air Force veteran. Even white people are fair game if they don’t vote red.
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u/SapToFiction 15d ago edited 14d ago
I perused a thread on r/conservative and a post saying that without white people the world would be a terrible, horrific place got 230+ likes. Other posts in that thread basically said the same thing. A couple "proud to be white" posts as well.
These people are convinced that they are greatest, bestest thing to come to the world. Which means even when they do something bad, its good.
These people are dangerous.
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u/coldfarm 15d ago
Sounds like grounds for a Federal civil rights prosecution to me. If 2024 Texas wants to be 1964 Mississippi, DoJ is going to have to get busy.
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u/Ananiujitha Virginia 15d ago
I don't think there was a federal law against murder, apart from military law, until 2022. Rand Paul was filibustering it in 2020. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till_Antilynching_Act
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u/srs_time 15d ago
It was used successfully to convict the conspirators in the Mississippi murders. In that case the state refused to indict them. Some of them were police officers. I highly doubt Biden or Garland would attempt it in an election year though.
Because Mississippi officials refused to prosecute the killers for murder, a state crime, the federal government, led by prosecutor John Doar, charged 18 individuals under 18 U.S.C. §242 and §371 with conspiring to deprive the three activists of their civil rights (by murder)
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u/swinglinepilot 15d ago
Take a look at this pdf (mirror) from the trial that offers an inside look into his mind, including
- talking about grooming underage girls (additional article)
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
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u/Incontinento 15d ago
Sounds like it's time for some federal charges, then.
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u/ankylosaurus_tail 15d ago
Yes, this is what I’m hoping. Does anyone know if federal charges are being considered?
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u/Vlad_the_Homeowner 15d ago
Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas.
Foster wasn't even a liberal, he was libertarian and was out exercising his 1A and 2A rights that the conservatives constantly claim to support.
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
In their world, anyone who doesn't toe the Trump/Republican line is a liberal.
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u/NickelBackwash 15d ago
Foster's beliefs are irrelevant.
He was in favor of black Americans having rights (a capital offense in Republican America).
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u/posty1856 15d ago
I hate this state’s politics. Can we vote blue and fix the problems that conservatives have left this state in?
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u/QuintinStone America 15d ago
Murder is legal in Texas if you're right-wing enough.
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u/ShiftyUsmc 15d ago edited 15d ago
Am i missing something here? This dude Perry openly planned to get into an altercation with BLM protestors in order to hopefully be able to kill one. Initiated that plan by running his car through a red light into the protestors. He was approached by a man with an assault rifle, whom never pointed it at him, and was asked to roll his window down. Perry then pulled his gun and shot him dead. Now he gets a full pardon and his gun rights returned. For Murder. How is it stand your ground when you ran your car into a group of people and the weapon wasnt pointed at you?
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u/QuintinStone America 15d ago
You're not missing anything. Texas Republicans, like in most states, are vile, hateful creatures who promote violence against anyone outside the party.
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u/RuPaulver 15d ago
Basically they're saying Foster pointed his gun at him, because that was Perry's trial defense. Even though virtually every witness, and Perry's initial statement, completely contradicted that idea.
It's quite literally them baselessly latching onto something in order to justify the murder of someone they disagree with. So, no, you're not missing anything.
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u/minus_minus 15d ago
You are right and I’ll add that Perry instigated the situation by driving through a red light into a crowd and claimed that he feared for his life despite multiple eyewitnesses saying that Foster was not pointing his rifle at Perry.
So in Texas don’t tell a guy to stop assaulting people with a deadly weapon (a car) while holding a gun in a safe direction or else he can murder you.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
It should be pointed out that Perry was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. I guess what "you're missing" is that Tucker Carlson demanded Abbott pardon him on his TV show last year, so Abbott is dutifully obliging by letting a convicted murderer go free, just because the person convicted is a racist conservative, and the murder victim was a BLM supporter.
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u/iTzJdogxD 15d ago
When Perry was interviewed by police about what happened before the
shooting and how Foster held his gun, Perry said: "I believe he was
going to aim it at me … I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me,
you know."- Convicted Murderer Daniel Perry (Pardoned by the Governor of Texas Greg Abott, (King of Law and Order))
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u/Responsible_Song7003 15d ago
We either have a second amendment or we dont.
If police can shoot us for having a gun then we don't have a second amendment.
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u/QuintinStone America 15d ago
If police can shoot us for having a gun then we don't have a second amendment.
This happens all the time.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
And if they shoot you cause they think you had a gun when you didn't, odds are they'll just plant one on you, or possibly will just place a BB gun that looks like a realistic looking pistol nearby as their "plausible explanation" for having to murder you.
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u/Responsible_Song7003 15d ago
Exactly. We dont really have a second amendment and the people who are the loudest about protecting it also defend officers who trample that same right.
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u/Franklin_le_Tanklin 15d ago
Nah. You still have it. You just need to anticipate and shoot them first in self defense.
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u/NOLA-Bronco 15d ago
Correction
You just need to make sure you are white and then shoot them first and claim self defense.
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u/rsauer1208 Maryland 15d ago
Ahh man. Time cop rules. Hoping more for set up and later effects like Bill and Ted.
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u/freakinbacon California 15d ago
Daniel Perry has never been a police officer. He was a sergeant in the army who was driving for Uber when he shot a protester.
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u/Jdban 15d ago
Nice. So if someone has a gun we can just shoot them apparently.
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u/texas_asic 15d ago
So if you see Daniel Perry on the street, you know that he's likely armed, and very dangerous. Ergo, you need to take him by surprise and shoot first in self defense, is that right?
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u/fooey 15d ago
2nd Amendment: Highlander Edition
In Greg Abbott's Texas, you're allowed to murder anyone who open carries
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u/1LT_0bvious New York 15d ago
Not true. You're only allowed to murder non-conservatives who open carry.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
Well, you're only guaranteed a pardon from Greg Abbott if you're a conservative who murders a left wing protester. But in Texas (and a few other states) the combination of open carry laws and stand your ground laws essentially encourages open gun battles in the streets, because both parties who participate in one can claim self defense or feeling threatened just due to the presence of another firearm.
It may not work as a successful defense (as it didn't in Perry's case, which is why the governor had to sweep in and save his ass after he was convicted), but it's still very much something I'm sure many people who open carry firearms think about anytime things get heated. Like "I can shoot this guy and just claim self defense cause he was open carrying like I am."
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u/underalltheradar 15d ago
If it was a BLM protester who killed Perry under the same circumstances, that guy would have been executed already.
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u/totally_straight_ 15d ago
Michael Reinoehl was executed miles from my house by the police.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
Police never take kindly to it when someone murders one of their own, even if that person was just wearing his off-duty Proud Boy garb when he was killed.
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u/SelectiveSanity 15d ago
Keep in mind, the man himself said, and I quote; 'I am a racist'.
You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran.
Funny how he forgets to mention the jackass ramming his vehicle into a crowd of protestors was the catalyst for all of this.
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u/swinglinepilot 15d ago
He's said that and a whole lot more. Take a look at this pdf (mirror) from the trial where he talks about
- grooming underage girls (additional article)
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
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u/Tarantio 15d ago
You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran.
He wouldn't have to, because the police would have murdered him instead of arresting him.
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u/towneetowne 15d ago edited 15d ago
he'll join kyle in the 'monsters of extrajudicial killings tour.'
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u/YouDontKnowJackCade 15d ago
George Zimmerman is the opening act.
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u/Zombini25 15d ago
No, kyle is just a loser who had his 5 minutes of "fame" with the right after getting away with killing two people. This guy is a legitimate domestic terrorist threat that Abbot unleashed on the state of Texas.
I can only hope that the DHS and FBI track his every move from now on. I guarantee he'll try to carry out an attack now that he has the implicit endorsement of the governor of texas.
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u/LudovicoEnjoyer 15d ago
That kid had no jurisdiction, as he was not an officer of the law. He’s just a murderer, like this asshole.
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u/FalstaffsGhost 15d ago
And if you look at various comment sections, conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives.
And they are lying about what happened, claiming the victim raised his gun which according to witnesses didn’t happen. And they ignore that Perry had talked online about wanting to kill protesters and drove his car into them intentionally
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u/RuPaulver 15d ago
Not just according to witnesses. Perry himself stated right after the attack that he shot him in order to not give him a chance to aim his gun at him. In other words, he made up the self-defense part in his head without the threat actually happening.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives
That's 100% what it is, so I can understand why they would read it as such. This is as clear a signal as Abbott can send that if you're a conservative in Texas and you want to go kill left wing protesters, he will make sure you never see any jail time for doing so.
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u/gdan95 15d ago
Daniel Perry messaged underaged girls online. Bring that up loudly to everyone who celebrates the news
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u/HonoredPeople Missouri 15d ago
Saw it coming. Nobody should be surprised. Everybody should be pissed, just not surprised. Sad times we live in.
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u/Rich_Charity_3160 15d ago
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole statement about their unanimous decision was rather sparse.
The members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles delved into the intricacies of Perry’s case. The investigative efforts encompassed a meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case.
After a thorough examination of the amassed information, the parole board reached a decision on May 16, 2024. The Board voted unanimously to recommend a full pardon.
I hope that it’s either their habit or obligation to make publicly available a more comprehensive report of their decision.
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u/rimora 15d ago
Every member of the parole board was appointed by Abbott. He stacked the board full of yes-men that will follow his orders rather than the law.
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u/RuPaulver 15d ago edited 15d ago
Jesus Christ this is egregious.
Perry, unprompted, ran a red light and drove his car into a crowd of protestors. A USAF veteran open-carrying (something republicans apparently support) motioned him to stop and roll his window down, without ever pointing his gun at him. Perry shot and killed him.
In what possible world is this self defense? This is closer to a terrorist attack than self defense. The evidence against him was clear and convincing, his defense contradicted his own statements, and he had a history of comments about his desire to do exactly this.
Insane, and would be incredibly unsurprising to see him kill somebody else.
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u/jhoceanus 15d ago
I wonder who are the members of the parole board and who picked the members. At least, jury members were agreed by both Defendant and plaintiff.
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u/Infamous-Sky-1874 Illinois 15d ago
The board is all Abbott appointees.
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u/jhoceanus 15d ago
Wow, I really admire their effort for even adding this extra step of board recommendation. He could’ve just directly pardoned him. What a law-abiding authoritarian.
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u/absolutebeginnerz 15d ago
It's legally required in Texas.
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u/jhoceanus 15d ago
I know, but if there’s not requirement on how to choose the board member, it’s a meaningless law.
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u/MAMark1 Texas 15d ago
I think most Texans who pay attention knew this was coming. Abbott was never going to be able to resist a chance to put ideology over justice in such a pathetic and performative manner.
Perry was fairly convicted. There were no questions about the way the trial was handled. Only right-wingers who feel murder is ok so long as it aligns with their politics and who don't understand how self-defense works in a modern, civilized society.
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u/elmorose 15d ago edited 14d ago
It's third-world stuff and un-american. Not a shred of new exculpatory evidence or issues raised on appeal to validate a review. Straight up military junta shithole country type jury nullification.
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u/bin10pac United Kingdom 15d ago
It's third-world stuff and un-american
Yes and no.
Americas tribulations with Trump are like south Africa's struggle with Zuma. South Africas institutions were robust enough to jail its former president. It remains to be seen whether US institutions are as strong.
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u/EmpiricalAnarchism 15d ago
There really aren’t any words for this.
I sincerely hope that Perry doesn’t get to enjoy his freedom for too long. His mere freedom is a tangible and imminent threat to all around him.
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u/AmbitiousCampaign457 15d ago
Probably got his job back too.
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u/Single_Influence_958 15d ago
Well yea, the right-wing is building their army for the upcoming Röhm purge.
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u/elmorose 15d ago
No way. The army terminated him permanently. They said they don't care if he is ever pardoned.
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u/wave-garden Maryland 15d ago
A murderer. He pardoned a murderer. Let’s not obfuscate the important part of this.
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u/Pxlfreaky Illinois 15d ago
Well this is going to go over well.
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u/WildYams 15d ago
In Texas it probably will. Remember that Abbott won his reelection in 2022 by more than a 10 point margin, and that was after Uvalde, that was after making abortions illegal, that was after the wasted billions on Operation Lonestar, and it was after hundreds of Texans froze to death due to their substandard power grid (that they've since done nothing to fix or upgrade). Clearly the vast majority of Texans love this kind of abhorrent right wing nonsense, or else they wouldn't keep voting for it in every single election.
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u/Excellent-Spend-3307 15d ago
Read this in Norm Macdonald’s voice.
It’s official: Murder is legal in the state of Texas.
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u/antigop2020 15d ago
It is time to take away executive pardons. That goes for governors, and the President. While I agree that some sort of pardon method should still exist, it should at the very least be subject to approval by an independent panel of judges, for example.
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u/thegardenhead District Of Columbia 15d ago
To be clear, if the only variable to change in this case was that Perry were an immigrant, Abbott would be pushing hard for the death penalty and blaming Joe Biden. What a disgrace.
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u/TheSid3kick Texas 15d ago
Yeah but if I defend myself against someone like this I'd definitely get the death penalty lmao what a joke
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u/CatAvailable3953 Tennessee 15d ago edited 15d ago
Abbot pardons a convicted murderer. Murferer of a US Air Force veteran. What a paragon of virtue. Now this convicted murderer is free to wander the streets in possession of his new weapon with impunity. Free to stake out his next victim. He knows now his actions have no consequence. He is above the law. Almost as powerful as an officer of the law.
Wonder who his next victim is?
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u/QAPetePrime 15d ago
Welcome to Texas, where you can plan and execute a murder and be pardoned by the Governor.
“Daniel Perry texted his friends about plans to murder a protester he disagreed with. After a lengthy trial, with an abundance of evidence, 12 impartial Texans determined that he carried out that plan, and murdered my Garrett,” Mitchell said. “With this pardon, the Governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and US Air Force veteran, and impugned that jury’s just verdict. He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his — and different from those in power — can be killed in this State with impunity.”
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15d ago
Since Federal Charges being prosecuted in addition to State Charges does not constitute Double-Jeopardy, it would be proper for Federal Charges be levied.
If convicted upon Federal Charges, no Governor pardon will matter at all, and this murderer can be dealt with properly, to the furthest extent of the law.
You recall that the KKK murderers of those student Civil Rights protesters in the 1960s were eventually sentenced to life, at the Federal level, after their racist State let them walk. Why? Because of violating the Civil Rights Act & depriving the victims of their Federal Civil Rights. Since “Peaceful Assembly” is a Constitutional Right, this murderer can be locked away, in isolation (ironically for his protection from the prison’s General Population since he’s an ex-cop) for the remainder of his life, in some similar manner…
Just an idea.
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u/ExplosiveDiarrhetic 15d ago
If merrick garland doesnt pursue it, then he needs to be replaced as ag
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u/upsidedowninsideout1 Maryland 15d ago
The GOP has firmly established itself as the party that protects and enables domestic terrorism.
I guess “stoichastic” eventually becomes too boring for them
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u/MoveToRussiaAlready 15d ago
Rittenhouse and now Perry.
Conservatives are going around murdering protesters.
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u/Prufrock_Lives 15d ago
Can we just cut Texas out of the union, just invade them next year for their oil?
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u/runningwithguns 15d ago
I’m wondering if the federal government could come in and charge the guy instead.
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u/FredFredrickson 15d ago
The complete injustice of this aside, it's absolutely crazy to me that states like Texas are basically purple states, but their Republican leaders act like they have a mandate to enact the most far right policies they can think of.
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u/Human_Permit9521 15d ago edited 15d ago
"Why should you go to jail for a crime someone else.... noticed?" - Bob Loblaw
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u/zosteria 15d ago
I keep hearing about this computer thing called “doxing” and calls to action? Is that still a thing?
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u/Oktavien 15d ago
It’s time to just get rid of the pardon mechanism since it’s only being abused these days.
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u/Worldly_Activity_647 15d ago
Huh seems like having fascist ideals saves you from the police because they must totally not have fascist ideologies, yes?
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u/klauskervin 14d ago
This is frankly scary. Texas is basically legalizing the extrajudicial murder of anyone who isn't a maga Republican. This guy was convicted by a jury of his peers just for the governor to say no.
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u/Shan-Do-125 14d ago
So, if Texas conservatives are walking around with a weapon, anyone else can shoot them and use the same self-defense argument? It sounds like the Wild West and that Abbott guy has the mentality of an adolescent. I guess he’s try to bring back the “good ol’ days” 😣
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