A Travis County court sentenced an Army sergeant who fatally shot a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester in Austin nearly three years ago to 25 years’ imprisonment on Wednesday, per an Associated Press (AP) article that was run by Austin CBS affiliate KEYE.
The development came a month after a jury found 36-year-old Daniel Perry guilty of killing Garrett Foster during a protest in the state capital’s downtown district.
Before Perry was sentenced, Austin ABC affiliate KVUE reported, the court fielded approximately six hours of testimony from family members and experts on Tuesday.
Perry, who was stationed at what is now known as Fort Cavazos some 70 miles north of Austin at the time of the incident, and his legal counsel await the outcome of a pardon process requested by Gov. Greg Abbott.
“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, a Republican, shared on Twitter, according to KEYE, Austin Journal reported.
Foster’s mother approved the sentence for Perry, the AP reported.
"After three long years, we're finally getting justice for Garrett," Sheila Foster said in the report. "Mr. Perry, I pray to God that one day, he will get rid of all this hate that is in your heart."
The defense had argued their client acted in self-defense, saying the 28-year-old Foster approached their client’s vehicle – Perry had taken on ride-share work which placed him to Downtown Austin – with an AK-47 rifle while prosecutors said that he could’ve driven away before shooting Foster.
The protest was in response to the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day 2020.
Per the AP, attorney Clinton Broden, who represented Perry, said the latter will appeal the sentence.
Decrying what he called a “political prosecution,” Broden said the following in a statement: "Those who claim that Gov. Abbott's expressed intent is based on politics simply choose to ignore the fact that it was only the political machinations of a rogue district attorney which led to Sgt. Perry's prosecution in the first instance."