A Texas man who killed a Black Lives Matter protestor has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
35-year-old Daniel Perry, an Army sergeant, was convicted last month in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Garrett Foster, who was protesting against police brutality and racial injustice in downtown Austin in July 2020, per NBC News.
Foster was approaching an intersection, legally carrying a rifle when Perry shot him from a vehicle. Perry claimed that Foster had pointed his rifle at the vehicle, and he shot him in self-defense.
After a Travis County jury convicted Perry of murder, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that he wished to pardon Perry, citing Texas' "stand your ground" self-defense law.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza previously called Abbott's vow to pardon Perry “deeply troubling.”
“In our legal system, a jury gets to decide whether a defendant is guilty or innocent — not the Governor,” Garza said last month.
During Perry's sentence hearing, prosecutors highlighted text messages and social media posts that suggested a hostility toward the Black Lives Matter movement.
He faced up to life in prison for the murder conviction.
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