Texas Democratic lawmakers aired fury on Friday over Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to pardon Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murdering a protester in a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas.
Perry was convicted of fatally shooting protester Garrett Foster, a former mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Abbott pardoned Perry on Thursday after a recommendation from the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles. Both Perry and Foster are white.
Among the reactions from Texas Democrats:
“By aligning yourself with someone that is racist, you’re saying that this is who I am and these are my values,” Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) said in an interview. “[Abbott] thinks it’s going to make him a hero, and in some corners it will make him a hero.”
“But you choose to make your buddy someone that calls black people monkeys. That is, that is beyond F’d up,” Veasey added, referring to Perry’s social media history and text messages, which included racist comments.
“Texas is leading the way in the [descent] to hell,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), one of two members who represent Austin, where the murder happened, called Abbott’s decision a “horrible abdication.”
“Gov. Abbott keeps on finding the newest and, and craziest ways to be the biggest hypocrite in the state,” Casar said. “And it’s just actually a horrible abdication of our duty as elected officials to be issuing pardons and putting people in or out of jail based on how they vote or or what their views are on the world. I mean, that’s just actually — that’s medieval stuff.”
“It’s just another political stunt for Abbott,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas). “I mean, clearly he murdered somebody and he’s getting away with it. It’s a shame. It shows you how divisive things are that we pardon hardened criminals and let them roam free.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) referenced Perry’s offensive social media posts in a statement after the pardon.
“Before Daniel Perry murdered a veteran in 2020, he told a friend he ‘might go to Dallas to shoot looters.’ A year before, he wrote, ‘to [sic] bad we can’t get paid for hunting Muslims,’” Castro said on Thursday. “Governor Abbott’s alliance with white nationalists is putting dangerous people on our streets.”
