Kinnakeet
Well-Known Member
Garrett got what he deserved.
Protest Shootings
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
The New York Times unwillingly ran a good-news story yesterday headlined, “Texas Governor Pardons Man in Fatal Shooting of Protester in 2020.” Last year, Uber driver and Army veteran Daniel Perry was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for shooting a white BLM protestor during the 2020 summer riots, after the masked protestor blocked Perry’s car and aimed an AK-47 at him.
Despite that the deceased protestor was white, prosecutors still presented evidence to the jury of racist comments Perry had made online, as well as comments about his dislike for the 2020 protests, and put on psychological experts who called the hapless driver “basically a loaded gun.” The jury rejected Perry’s self-defense argument, found him guilty on all counts, and the judge imposed the maximum sentence. Then the Army dishonorably discharged Perry from active duty.
This week, Texas’s Board of Pardons and Paroles reviewed Perry’s case and recommended he be pardoned. Governor Abbott promptly issued the pardon, and also took the chance to swipe at the Soros-funded DA who’d prosecuted poor Perry. Governor Abbott wrote that DA José Garza did not pursue justice, but rather “demonstrated unethical and biased misuse of his office in prosecuting Daniel Scott Perry.”
Governor Abbott further explained in the pardon, “District Attorney Garza directed the lead detective investigating Daniel Scott Perry to withhold exculpatory evidence from the grand jury considering whether to report an indictment.” Among other things, a detective called by prosecutors signed an affidavit saying DA Garza had ordered him to remove over 100 items of exculpatory evidence from his testimony.
[IMHO the DA should be facing jail ]
In maybe the best good news, DA Garza — like Trump-prosecuting DA Fani Willis — now finds himself under investigation. The woke Texas DA is currently facing a proceeding that could remove him from office under a new law signed by the Governor that limits local prosecutors’ discretion.
Perry’s pardon has ignited a small firestorm of disorganized controversy. Corproate media knows it’s upset, but it isn’t sure what exactly to be upset about. They want so badly for the case to be about systemic racism. But they keep crunching the numbers and it’s never coming out right.
As far as I can tell, based on how many column inches they devote to Perry’s irrelevant beliefs, corporate media’s main problem with Daniel Perry is that he’s got the wrong politics, so he’s a bad person.
The Times’s article ended weakly by unsuccessfully attempting to tie Perry’s self-defense case to Austin’s pro-Palestine protests. The effort failed, but unintentionally connected the 2020 pre-election protests to 2024’s pre-election protests, making the whole mess look politically-motivated.
The Times’ article was a disjointed disaster for journalism, but it was good news for justice.
☕️ STORMY WEATHER ☙ Saturday, May 18, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
2024 is shattering weather records, both on Earth and in Space - why?; another barge-bridge meetup; unexpected pardon for justice seekers; China makes sanctions moves; Congress reigns in FAA; more.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Texas court asked to reverse pardon in Black Lives Matter protest killing
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, a Democrat whose office tried the murder case, said he asked the state Court of Criminal Appeals for a special order, called a writ of mandamus, to overturn Abbott's action.
Garza told a news briefing in the state capital of Austin that Abbott, a Republican, violated the separation of powers doctrine of the state's constitution and failed to follow proper legal procedures in the way he pardoned Daniel Perry last month.
Abbott's office did not immediately respond to Reuters' request seeking comment on Garza's move.
Perry, convicted last year, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting Garrett Foster, a U.S. Air Force veteran, in July 2020 during the protest against racial injustice following the George Floyd killing by police in Minneapolis months earlier.
Foster, 28, was white, as is Perry.
Perry, then 37, insisted he was acting in self-defense and opened fire because Foster was brandishing an AK-47 rifle at him. The trial presented conflicting accounts on whether Foster leveled his rifle at Perry.
Prosecutors said Foster, who was legally armed at the time, had approached Perry's car to protect his fellow protesters, believing Perry might assault them with his vehicle.
The jury sided against Perry, whose case became a cause celebre for political conservatives.
On May 16, immediately acting on the recommendation of the state's pardons board, Abbott granted a full pardon to Perry, citing the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense laws, one of the strongest such measures in the U.S.
On Tuesday, Garza told reporters the board and Abbott had "put their politics over justice and made a mockery of the legal system."
The district attorney said Abbott exceeded his authority by intervening in the murder case before allowing the appellate process to play out, and thus "prohibited the judiciary from doing its work."
Beyond the separation-of-powers issue, Garza told reporters the board and governor failed to abide by pardon eligibility rules set by the law, adding, "They didn't even come close to meeting those standards in this case."