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Abbott praised Texas’ tough Stand Your Ground self-defense laws and said Perry was hard-lineed by liberal prosecutors. Since then, trails of Perry’s texts and online posts containing shocking racist imagery have become public, but the governor has remained silent on the matter.
Abbott’s office did not respond to the Associated Press’ request for comment on the ruling or whether he still intends to grant a pardon. Perry, 36, could have been sentenced to up to life in prison.
Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University, said Mr Abbott responded to the pardon request too soon.
“Mr. Abbott has clearly driven himself into a corner,” Jones said in response to criticism from conservative former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who called for the governor’s action.
“If Governor Abbott knew everything he knows now, I doubt he would have jumped on the pardon pledge,” Jones said.
An Abbott-appointed pardon and parole board has already begun reviewing Perry’s case. State law requires the board to recommend a pardon before the governor takes action.
The killing of a black man, George Floyd, by a white Minneapolis police officer has turned the case into politics as demonstrations against police killings and racial injustice have spread.
Perry’s attorney Wednesday described the case as a “political indictment” and the release of the texts and social media posts as “personal assassination.”
Attorney Clinton Broden said the defense team would pursue both a pardon and a normal appeal in the court system.
“Those who claim that Governor Abbott’s stated intentions are politically based simply choose to ignore the fact that Governor Abbott’s intentions are politically based. Perry’s indictment,” he said. .
“It was Mr. Abbott who decided to let politics get involved in this case,” said Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza. Garza said she had been assured by the parole board that she and Foster’s family would be given an opportunity to speak before the board on Perry’s case.
District Judge Clifford Brown said in a brief pre-sentence statement that Perry received a fair trial. The jury’s verdict “deserves our honor and our respect,” said Brown, who did not mention the possibility of a pardon.
Perry, who is white, was stationed at Fort Hood, about 110 miles north of Austin, when the shooting occurred. He works as a ride-sharing driver and has just dropped off a client of his, who finds himself on a street crowded with demonstrators. Foster, also white, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran, legally owned an AK-47 rifle.
Perry claimed he was doing it in self-defense, claiming he drove past the crowd and fired his handgun when Foster pointed his rifle at him. Witnesses said they did not see Foster draw his weapon, and prosecutors said Perry may have fled in his car without firing a shot.
In a statement posted on Tuesday, Perry wrote on Facebook a month before the shooting:
Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020. A few days later, as protests erupted, Perry texted an acquaintance that he might go to Dallas to shoot looters.
Foster was with his girlfriend, Whitney Mitchell, who is black and in a wheelchair, when Perry shot him. Several members of Mitchell’s and Foster’s families appeared in court on Wednesday to hand down their sentences.
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