Travis County DA asking higher court to reverse 'unlawful' Daniel Perry pardon

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Travis County district attorney's office plans to take action against Gov. Greg Abbott in response to what it believes was an "unlawful" pardon of a man convicted of murder in the death of a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020.

Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry May 16, one week after he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The former Army sergeant was working for Uber when he drove into a crowd of protesters who started kicking and hitting his car, court testimony showed. He shot protester Garrett Foster, himself an Air Force veteran, who was armed with a rifle and approached the car.

District Attorney José Garza said his office intended to file a writ of mandamus asking the court of criminal appeals to reverse the "unlawful" pardon on the grounds that a process to support an innocence finding wasn't followed and that Abbott violated Texas' separation of powers clause.

One day after a jury found Perry guilty in April, Abbott called for him to be pardoned. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles reviewed the case and voted unanimously to give Perry a full pardon and restore his gun rights.

"We had justice for Garrett for 18 hours after waiting 3 years for a trial," his mother, Sheila, said at Tuesday's press conference. "It was planned. It was premeditated, and the very next day the governor announced his plans to pardon. And now here we are and he has done it and I am not OK with this and nobody should be OK with this."

At the time he signed the pardon, Abbott noted the Board of Pardons and Paroles had conducted an "exhaustive review" of the case.

"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," Abbott said at the time.

KXAN reached out to Gov. Abbott's office and will update this story when we receive a response.