A U.S. Army sergeant has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars for killing a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester in 2020.
During the height of the BLM protests in 2020, 35-year-old Daniel Perry killed Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old white man who was protesting in Minneapolis.
“The protesters were all around me, banging on the side of the car, hitting me with spray paint cans,” Perry told investigators. “One guy [Foster] wanted to talk to me.”
The sergeant said he rolled down his window to talk to Foster, who said something quietly before raising his weapon. Foster was openly carrying an AK-47 across his chest.
“That’s when I got my weapon and pulled the trigger as fast as I could, and then drove away and called 911,” he told police.
Perry turned himself in to authorities immediately following the incident. He claims that he acted in self-defense during the altercation.
He was previously facing between five and 99 years in prison. Notably, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abott said he wanted to pardon Perry and issued an unusual request for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to expedite a review of the case before a sentence was handed down.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abott tweeted at the time.
Texas law states that the governor can only pardon Perry if the Board of Pardons and Paroles approves it, but the board declared it would launch an inquiry right away and, once finished, report its findings to the governor with recommendations.
Meanwhile, Sheila Foster, the victim’s mother, praised the 25-year sentence as well as her son’s strong moral beliefs in racial equality.
“Finally, after three long years, we’re finally getting justice for Garrett,” Foster said following the sentencing.
“Me and everybody who loves Garrett will fight for the rest of our lives for the things that mattered the most to him. That is racial equality, standing up against abuse of power, doing the right thing, feeding the less fortunate, loving everyone no matter what,” she added. “Violent hate-filled racists have no place here.”
