José Garza, the Travis County District Attorney, this week began a push to overturn Gov. Greg Abbott’s pardon of Daniel Perry. Perry shot and killed Garret Foster in 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin. He was found guilty of murder in April 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
After the trial, Abbott asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to consider Perry’s case.
“This was a pretty unprecedented situation where Gov. Abbott had pledged to pardon Daniel Perry even while the case was still ongoing,” said James Barragán, politics reporter for the Texas Tribune. “Once the case was decided against Perry, Abbott began his move to pardon him.”
Unhappy with Abbott’s pardon, Garza has now filed a petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn it. He has also asked to argue the case in front of the court.
“(Garza’s office) felt that they got the correct decision from the court, and Perry was sentenced to 25 years,” Barragán said. “So this is an appeal to the state’s highest criminal court to say, ‘hey, we did our job. The governor is out of line here, and we would like the sentencing and the case to continue as it was decided.’ So pretty, extraordinary situation here.”
Hear more from this week in Texas politics in the audio player above
