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(CNN) — A U.S. Army sergeant convicted of killing demonstrators at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday morning despite calls from the governor of Texas for a pardon. received.
Daniel Perry, 35, was sentenced to 5 years to 99 years in prison for shooting Garrett Foster, 28, at a race justice rally in Austin, Texas after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. rice field. Perry and Foster are white.
Ahead of the sentencing, District Court Judge Clifford A. Brown praised the jurors for weeks of grappling with the nuances and complexities of the case.
“This juror’s hard work, service and sacrifice deserve our honor and our respect,” he said.
Perry, dressed in a striped black and gray prison uniform, held his head and cried after the sentence.
In court Tuesday, Perry’s lawyers said he had no criminal record, suffered from complex post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological problems, and was praised by several military colleagues. was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors have sought at least 25 years in prison for Perry, highlighting a series of racist and inflammatory social media posts before the shooting. Prosecutors also said the defendant’s own analysis of his mental illness and mindset showed him to be a “loaded gun ready to fire.”
The ruling comes nearly three years after Perry killed Air Force veteran Foster in a case that touched on thorny political issues such as gun rights, the right to self-defense and protests that black lives matter. was taken down.
Prosecutors said the death was triggered when Perry, who was stationed at Fort Hood, fled a red light and drove into a crowd of protesters. Foster, who was openly in possession of an assault rifle (which is legal in Texas), approached Perry’s car and motioned for the window to be lowered, at which point Perry shot Foster with the pistol. He was shot dead, prosecutors said.
Perry’s defense team argued that his actions were justified as self-defense.According to CNN affiliate KEYE, he said in an interview that he believed Foster was trying to point a firearm at him, police said. told to
He was indicted by a grand jury nearly a year after the murder. In April, a Texas jury found Perry guilty of murder, but he was acquitted of the charge of aggravated assault with a murder weapon. The manslaughter charge is still pending.
Sentence length may be debatable in the end. Shortly after his conviction last month, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he wanted to pardon Perry and made an unusual request to the state pardon and parole board to expedite the review of the case before sentencing. I put it out.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ self-defense laws that cannot be overridden by a jury or a progressive district attorney,” the governor said in a statement. statement on twitter.
According to Texas law, the governor can only pardon Perry when recommended by the Pardon and Parole Board.
The board said at the time it would immediately launch an investigation and report its recommendations to the governor when complete. The board said on Tuesday that the investigation was ongoing and declined further comment.
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Garrett Foster (left), pictured with fiancée Whitney Mitchell, was shot dead during a Black Lives Matter protest in July 2020.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, a number of witnesses testified about Perry’s background and the effects of the shooting.
In his defense, forensic psychologist Greg Happ, who tested Perry twice earlier this year, testified that Perry was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and an autism spectrum disorder.
Combined with his military experience, Perry had an “us versus them” mentality. I am prepared for an imminent attack, and anything out there could be a potential threat,” Hap said.
Upon cross-examination, prosecutors noted that military records did not show any of these psychological problems.
The prosecution also cited documents unsealed by a Travis County judge after Perry’s conviction, showing that Perry made racist comments in messages and social media posts over the years. It was revealed that
The documents show that weeks before the shooting, Perry told friends in a Facebook message in May 2020 that he “might have to kill a few people” who were rioting outside his apartment. It is said that And in social media comments on June 1, 2020, documents show that Perry likened the Black Lives Matter movement to a “zoo full of monkeys throwing shit at them in surprise.”
Perry’s attorney, Clint Broden, criticized the release of the documents in a statement to CNN, calling it a political decision by prosecutors.
Broden said Foster has also made social media posts advocating violence or supporting riots, most of which cannot be made public due to Texas discovery rules. However, some posts have been made public, including one praising the Minneapolis Police Department arson in 2020.
CNN has reached out to the governor’s office for comment on the social media post. Attorneys for the Foster family declined to comment on the unsealed documents.
Foster’s fiancée, Whitney Mitchell, told prosecutors on Tuesday in tearful testimony how her life had changed since his death.
Mitchell was an amputee, and Foster had been her sole caregiver for the past 11 years, helping with the day’s preparations, meals, and work as a costume designer. but she said it would be difficult to live there without him.
“It’s hard every day being there. It’s hard to sleep in bed without him,” she said. “He was my primary caregiver for his 11 years. I had to learn. I feel comfortable being vulnerable.”
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