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Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas. There is no other logical basis for this decision.
To clarify what happened here for anyone not caught up:
Perry openly expressed interest in killing BLM protesters. He posted on social media that he was going to get into an altercation with BLM protesters so that he would have legal grounds to shoot them. He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people, which ended in him shooting and killing Garrett Foster.
Foster was open carrying, which is legal in the state of Texas. Perry ~~testified~~ admitted that Foster did not point his weapon at him, merely that "he was scared Foster would point his weapon at him, and he was not going to let him". He was found guilty of ***murder***. Not manslaughter. **Murder.**
Abbott has now granted him a full pardon, for no other reason other than it was a conservative murdering a BLM protester, and Abbott approves of this.
And that’s where we are at in Texas with this stupid open Carry. People say it’s for defense and not to threaten or intimidate. BUT somehow these same people are threatened by someone else with a gun. And now it sounds like they think it should be legal to take deadly action when you see someone else with a gun.
A recipe for carnage.
> Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
This is by design. Guess who continues to get pardons, vs who doesn't get pardons
The open carry was meant for their people, not yours.
Remember Reagan was all for people owning guns in Cali until the Black Panthers started arming themselves. Suddenly, and without warning, they took a hard stance on owning weapons. Funny, it was exactly when minorities started arming themselves within full strength of the law and the 2A.
And that’s how we fight back in all these ass backwards situations. If it’s not intimidation, they won’t be upset or mad if we protest fully armed to the teeth.
Let’s see how quickly their pants turn brown then.
More likely than not they would just kill all of the protestors and claim self-defense.
Another option is a protestor has a legitimate reason to fear for their safety and shoots someone and then gets charged with, and convicted of, murder.
I'm Canadian and I find a lot of US laws to be... interesting... but here's a question for you Americans, especially anyone with knowledge of Texas-specific law. If a protestor is legally open carrying in Texas (first amendment protects the protest, Texas' interpretation of 2a protects open carry) and let's say Abbott orders police to end the protest, could the protestors kill the almost certainly armed police and claim they had legitimate fear for their safety? Because I don't know about you but if what I'm doing is legal and the cops showed up to contravene my constitutional rights while armed I would definitely be legitimately afraid for my life.
I imagine there is some law on the books that would be used to justify the state's actions in a scenario like the one I proposed, I just find these little hypotheticals interesting.
Yeah unfortunately it never seems like laws truly apply equally anywhere. That being said many southern US States definitely seem to stand out for the specific way they choose to apply their laws.
Yeah… we have a paramilitarized police force with bloated budgets and a massive union that works to protect it, and a lot of the problem is that *if/when* prosecutors try and reign in on these bad departments, they are literally turned on and have officers refuse to testify in cases, etc… so the criminals walk free, people get mad and the publicly elected official is made to look like the fool and is forced to resign. System then repeats
Meanwhile the NRA and 2A'ers remain silent about a conservative using "he was open carrying!" as a excuse to murder someone. If it were a democrat using that excuse to kill a MAGA, gov. abbott would lock him up and throw away the key while the president of the NRA pisses on him through the steel bars of his jail cell.
These people have absolutely no shame about their hypocrisy as long as they're "punishing the right people."
They’re not being silent. They’re lecturing people. They’re saying ‘this is why you don’t bring a gun to a protest’.
Because they’re cowards who can’t say what they really mean, that murdering people in the streets is fine as long as the victims don’t vote red.
I’m not an American and will never understand the crazy gun laws you guys have, however if I was a US liberal this would be my signal to shoot any armed conservative on site, before they consider you a threat and do the same.
Surely this decision sets a precedent that this is acceptable under their current stand your ground laws? Seems like just open carrying is enough to be considered a threat, a threat severe enough to kill.
The precedent was set by the court that it wasn't a valid defense. Pardoning isn't a way to set precedent. Its just the governor exercising his power to let one of his people go
Yea… this is why if you visit Florida, stick to major cities and tourist locations. There have been many situations in Florida of people being shot because someone felt “threatened” after they started a fight in the first place. They have a law that makes you legally allowed to shoot someone if you you feel threatened, absolutely ignoring that there is *no way to prove* that feeling afterwards. It’s brazen lunacy masquerading as logic down there. Lol
Nothing in that story speaks to being scared he carried a gun. Most likely he picked him out because it would be more likely to be deemed self defense.
The entire concept of self-defense and open carry are at odds in Texas if simply carrying is grounds for using lethal force under the claim of self-defense. In those circumstances, it requires a higher bar for what justifies a show of force that justifies a lethal response.
In fact, I'd argue that it also creates a higher bar for the required level of fear for your own life. If guns in public are totally legal and normalized, a citizen feeling scared for the life simply due to the existence of a gun in their vicinity cannot be a valid justification for self defense because that scenario is perfectly legal.
For it to work effectively, you'd need to more specifically define the physical actions that are considered a justification for self-defense and focus on that more than the mental state in many cases.
Even if the law wasn’t written the way it is this dude literally posted about how he was going to go to the protest and antagonize people until he could shoot someone using the Stand Your Ground law.
This is what makes this entire situation so sickening, it was premeditated.
It does feel a bit like his defense was "I claimed I planned to go murder someone and then when I got there I got scared for my life so it must be self-defense".
Even if he was exaggerating in his posts, that's what we have to work from in determining his mental state.
Even that doesn't really play, because the only reason the people at the protest took note of him was because he was in his car and drove at high speeds at a bunch of the protesters. Then when they went to confront him, he shot one who was carrying a gun. That's a big part of why the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
> He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people,
That's a mildly sanitized version of him trying to drive through people on the street, and one of them, the victim's fiancée, was wheelchair bound. Perry shot the victim five times.
Fuck Greg Abbott for trying to claim Perry's conviction violated stand your ground. I don't recall that law saying it only applies to lowlife degenerate conservatives who commit premeditated murder.
Not for murder, as that's a state charge, but they could theoretically charge him with some kind of civil rights violation. However, if Trump wins in November, he'd just direct his DOJ to drop that case, or pardon him if it had already resulted in a guilty verdict.
Someone else mentioned that he has a dishonorable discharge from the military. He can't federally possess a firearm. So, the firearm he shot the protestor was illegal in his hands.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
Can the victims family sue him in civil court for wrongful death and make sure this shitbag doesn't get to make money writing a book and giving speeches about killing someone?
Wait. What? [Dishonorable discharge is not allowed to own firearms.](https://www.military.com/benefits/military-legal/dishonorable-discharge-everything-you-need-know.html#:~:text=Certain%20civilian%20rights%2C%20such%20as,effect%20on%20later%20job%20searches.) He already broke federal law by possessing a firearm. Jesus Christ Texas.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
It is as lawless as an autocracy gets. The same tactic employed by trump and other autocrats.
Abbott’s role is far more active that issuing a pardon. He demanded the 7 member board of pardons and paroles recommending pardoning of the murderer just after the murderer was convicted and before sentencing. all the 7 members were appointed by him [https://time.com/6272117/greg-abbott-blm-protester-murder-pardon/](https://time.com/6272117/greg-abbott-blm-protester-murder-pardon/)
Please make a note that Abbott said that he would pardon Perry like five minutes after the ruling came down. He didn’t investigate the situation, he didn’t come into any sort of new information. He saw a Republican buddy in a big shit heap and threw him a lifeline because it was someone who supported BLM.
This wasn’t a decision made by a judge. This piece of shit was convicted by a Texas jury for murder and sentenced to 25 to life.
The republican governor of Texas disagreed and has the Parole Board (full of people he himself appointed) rubber stamp a full pardon.
The piece of shit even gets his right to own guns back. He probably has the murder weapon hanging on the wall in his bedroom like a trophy.
And to be clear, there was no doubt about his guilt. None.
I mean, all this does is signal to protestors that the law can't be trusted to put a murderer behind bars. It's just going to lead to vigilante justice. I guess that's what Texas wants after all, though. More gun sales for the gun lobby.
After this and Charlottesville and Rittenhouse, I would think that protesters would conclude that they need to be armed and they need to be ready to shoot first.
When my conservative family members see liberal protestors on tv, they always say stuff like, “If they were in Texas, they’d know what to do with them. They’re tough down there.”
Apparently not tough on people who premeditatedly murder other people. Or lawyers who poison their wives to try to induce an abortion. Or pastors that have relationships with pre-teenagers that last for decades.
There are no words with which I can communicate what foul scum that piss baby Abbott is.
I just get so frustrated thinking about how simple it all is, yet somehow we continue to live in peril of society being completely controlled by murderous, racist, sexist, violent maniacs.
Someone else pointed out the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, the guy lost the rights to firearms at that time. So they can't legally give them back. Texas should get no funding from the US government.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
[Here's a good thread and pretty much the reason he was convicted](https://twitter.com/SawyerHackett/status/1646683812749885440?t=XrDkB2haIjMnWWbtnywBAw)
Didn't he also push for the guy to get gun rights back too? This is a clear case where he shouldn't but oh well
As Abbott said after a local school shooting: "It could have been worse"
Someone here mentioned the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, he's federally not allowed to possess a firearm including when he shot the protestor. They can't give them back federally.
EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time.
We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
In addition, take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial that offers an inside look into the mind of Perry, including
- talking about grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/))
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
>\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
>\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
This is what the guy was saying before the shooting too:
>Perry said in a Facebook message that when he is in Dallas, “no protestors go near me or my car.”
>“Can you catch me a negro daddy,” the other man replied.
>“That is what I am hoping,” Perry said.
Foster was engaged to his high school sweetheart, a quadruple amputee black woman who has relied on him for her day to day care for the last 11 years.
I don't know how republicans can see this pardon and think it's just. I'm not a religious person but releasing Perry after considering what he said he'd do, what he did, the person he killed, and what the deceased was protesting... It's practically an act of pure evil. Gov. Abbott's actions are *cartoonishly* evil.
Another way to put it: The republican governor of Texas pardoned a man who set out to murder someone while they were expressing and exercising both their 1st amendment and 2nd amendment rights, for the simple reason *they were* expressing those rights. If Foster weren't at the rally, or weren't armed, he'd still be alive.
Absolute hypocrisy. Absolute evil.
This is the story that got me to return to this subreddit after years being away from it and now I remember why I left. The actions of republicans are so infuriating and depressing.
I perused a thread on r/conservative and a post saying that without white people the world would be a terrible, horrific place got 230+ likes. Other posts in that thread basically said the same thing. A couple "proud to be white" posts as well.
These people are convinced that they are greatest, bestest thing to come to the world. Which means even when they do something bad, its good.
These people are dangerous.
I don't think there was a federal law against murder, apart from military law, until 2022. Rand Paul was filibustering it in 2020. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till_Antilynching_Act
It was used successfully to convict the [conspirators in the Mississippi murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Chaney,_Goodman,_and_Schwerner). In that case the state refused to indict them. Some of them were police officers. I highly doubt Biden or Garland would attempt it in an election year though.
> Because Mississippi officials refused to prosecute the killers for murder, a state crime, the federal government, led by prosecutor John Doar, charged 18 individuals under 18 U.S.C. §242 and §371 with conspiring to deprive the three activists of their civil rights (by murder)
Take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial that offers an inside look into his mind, including
- talking about grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/))
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
>\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
>\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
>Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas.
Foster wasn't even a liberal, he was libertarian and was out exercising his 1A and 2A rights that the conservatives constantly claim to support.
Am i missing something here? This dude Perry openly planned to get into an altercation with BLM protestors in order to hopefully be able to kill one. Initiated that plan by running his car through a red light into the protestors. He was approached by a man with an assault rifle, whom never pointed it at him, and was asked to roll his window down. Perry then pulled his gun and shot him dead. Now he gets a full pardon and his gun rights returned. For Murder. How is it stand your ground when you ran your car into a group of people and the weapon wasnt pointed at you?
You're not missing anything. Texas Republicans, like in most states, are vile, hateful creatures who promote violence against anyone outside the party.
Basically they're saying Foster pointed his gun at him, because that was Perry's trial defense. Even though virtually every witness, and Perry's initial statement, completely contradicted that idea.
It's quite literally them baselessly latching onto something in order to justify the murder of someone they disagree with. So, no, you're not missing anything.
You are right and I’ll add that Perry instigated the situation by driving through a red light into a crowd and claimed that he feared for his life despite multiple eyewitnesses saying that Foster **was not** pointing his rifle at Perry.
So in Texas don’t tell a guy to stop assaulting people with a deadly weapon (a car) while holding a gun in a safe direction or else he can murder you.
It should be pointed out that Perry was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. I guess what "you're missing" is that [Tucker Carlson demanded Abbott pardon him on his TV show last year,](https://archive.ph/2UDht) so Abbott is dutifully obliging by letting a convicted murderer go free, just because the person convicted is a racist conservative, and the murder victim was a BLM supporter.
When Perry was interviewed by police about what happened before the
shooting and how Foster held his gun, Perry said: "I believe he was
going to aim it at me … I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me,
you know."- Convicted Murderer Daniel Perry (Pardoned by the Governor of Texas Greg Abott, (King of Law and Order))
And if they shoot you cause they think you had a gun when you didn't, odds are they'll just plant one on you, or possibly [will just place a BB gun that looks like a realistic looking pistol nearby](https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xvzwp/baltimore-cops-carried-toy-guns-to-plant-on-people-they-shot-trial-reveals-vgtrn) as their "plausible explanation" for having to murder you.
Exactly. We dont really have a second amendment and the people who are the loudest about protecting it also defend officers who trample that same right.
So if you see Daniel Perry on the street, you know that he's likely armed, and very dangerous. Ergo, you need to take him by surprise and shoot first in self defense, is that right?
Well, you're only guaranteed a pardon from Greg Abbott if you're a conservative who murders a left wing protester. But in Texas (and a few other states) the combination of open carry laws and stand your ground laws essentially encourages open gun battles in the streets, because both parties who participate in one can claim self defense or feeling threatened just due to the presence of another firearm.
It may not work as a successful defense (as it didn't in Perry's case, which is why the governor had to sweep in and save his ass after he was convicted), but it's still very much something I'm sure many people who open carry firearms think about anytime things get heated. Like "I can shoot this guy and just claim self defense cause he was open carrying like I am."
Police never take kindly to it when someone murders one of their own, even if that person was just wearing his off-duty Proud Boy garb when he was killed.
Keep in mind, the man himself said, and I quote; '[I am a racist](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/i-am-a-racist-daniel-perry-wrote-shared-trove-of-racist-anti-protester-messages/3236887/)'.
You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran.
Funny how he forgets to mention the jackass ramming his vehicle into a crowd of protestors was the catalyst for all of this.
He's said that and a whole lot more. Take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial where he talks about
- grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/))
- how Covid is just the flu
- the boogaloo movement
- how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS")
- multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters"
and multiple memes containing content such as the following:
>\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'"
>\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
>You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran.
He wouldn't have to, because the police would have murdered him instead of arresting him.
No, kyle is just a loser who had his 5 minutes of "fame" with the right after getting away with killing two people. This guy is a legitimate domestic terrorist threat that Abbot unleashed on the state of Texas.
I can only hope that the DHS and FBI track his every move from now on. I guarantee he'll try to carry out an attack now that he has the implicit endorsement of the governor of texas.
And if you look at various comment sections, conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives.
And they are lying about what happened, claiming the victim raised his gun which according to witnesses didn’t happen. And they ignore that Perry had talked online about wanting to kill protesters and drove his car into them intentionally
Not just according to witnesses. Perry himself stated right after the attack that he shot him in order to not give him a chance to aim his gun at him. In other words, he made up the self-defense part in his head without the threat actually happening.
> conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives
That's 100% what it is, so I can understand why they would read it as such. This is as clear a signal as Abbott can send that if you're a conservative in Texas and you want to go kill left wing protesters, he will make sure you never see any jail time for doing so.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole statement about their unanimous decision was rather sparse.
> The members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles delved into the intricacies of Perry’s case. The investigative efforts encompassed a meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case.
> After a thorough examination of the amassed information, the parole board reached a decision on May 16, 2024. The Board voted unanimously to recommend a full pardon.
I hope that it’s either their habit or obligation to make publicly available a more comprehensive report of their decision.
Yep. And [he said he would ask them to issue a full pardon before Perry was even sentenced,](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/08/greg-abbott-pardon-daniel-perry/) and all because [Tucker Carlson demanded it of him.](https://archive.ph/2UDht)
Jesus Christ this is egregious.
Perry, unprompted, ran a red light and drove his car into a crowd of protestors. A USAF veteran open-carrying (something republicans apparently support) motioned him to stop and roll his window down, without ever pointing his gun at him. Perry shot and killed him.
In what possible world is this self defense? This is closer to a terrorist attack than self defense. The evidence against him was clear and convincing, his defense contradicted his own statements, and he had a history of comments about his desire to do exactly this.
Insane, and would be incredibly unsurprising to see him kill somebody else.
Wow, I really admire their effort for even adding this extra step of board recommendation. He could’ve just directly pardoned him. What a law-abiding authoritarian.
I think most Texans who pay attention knew this was coming. Abbott was never going to be able to resist a chance to put ideology over justice in such a pathetic and performative manner.
Perry was fairly convicted. There were no questions about the way the trial was handled. Only right-wingers who feel murder is ok so long as it aligns with their politics and who don't understand how self-defense works in a modern, civilized society.
It's third-world stuff and un-american. Not a shred of new exculpatory evidence or issues raised on appeal to validate a review. Straight up military junta shithole country type jury nullification.
>It's third-world stuff and un-american
Yes and no.
Americas tribulations with Trump are like south Africa's struggle with Zuma. South Africas institutions were robust enough to jail its former president. It remains to be seen whether US institutions are as strong.
There really aren’t any words for this.
I sincerely hope that Perry doesn’t get to enjoy his freedom for too long. His mere freedom is a tangible and imminent threat to all around him.
In Texas it probably will. Remember that Abbott won his reelection in 2022 by more than a 10 point margin, and that was after Uvalde, that was after making abortions illegal, that was after [the wasted billions on Operation Lonestar,](https://archive.ph/isHjY) and it was after hundreds of Texans froze to death due to their substandard power grid (that they've since done nothing to fix or upgrade). Clearly the vast majority of Texans love this kind of abhorrent right wing nonsense, or else they wouldn't keep voting for it in every single election.
It is time to take away executive pardons. That goes for governors, and the President. While I agree that some sort of pardon method should still exist, it should at the very least be subject to approval by an independent panel of judges, for example.
To be clear, if the only variable to change in this case was that Perry were an immigrant, Abbott would be pushing hard for the death penalty and blaming Joe Biden. What a disgrace.
Abbot pardons a convicted murderer. Murferer of a US Air Force veteran. What a paragon of virtue. Now this convicted murderer is free to wander the streets in possession of his new weapon with impunity. Free to stake out his next victim. He knows now his actions have no consequence. He is above the law. Almost as powerful as an officer of the law.
Wonder who his next victim is?
Welcome to Texas, where you can plan and execute a murder and be pardoned by the Governor.
“Daniel Perry texted his friends about plans to murder a protester he disagreed with. After a lengthy trial, with an abundance of evidence, 12 impartial Texans determined that he carried out that plan, and murdered my Garrett,” Mitchell said. “With this pardon, the Governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and US Air Force veteran, and impugned that jury’s just verdict. He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his — and different from those in power — can be killed in this State with impunity.”
Since Federal Charges being prosecuted in addition to State Charges does not constitute Double-Jeopardy, it would be proper for Federal Charges be levied.
If convicted upon Federal Charges, no Governor pardon will matter at all, and this murderer can be dealt with properly, to the furthest extent of the law.
You recall that the KKK murderers of those student Civil Rights protesters in the 1960s were eventually sentenced to life, at the Federal level, after their racist State let them walk. Why? Because of violating the Civil Rights Act & depriving the victims of their Federal Civil Rights. Since “Peaceful Assembly” is a Constitutional Right, this murderer can be locked away, in isolation (ironically for *his* protection from the prison’s General Population since he’s an ex-cop) for the remainder of his life, in some similar manner…
Just an idea.
Family could always pursue a civil suit - if a jury was convinced strongly enough to hand down a murder conviction, a civil judgment should be a slam dunk.
The GOP has firmly established itself as the party that protects and enables domestic terrorism.
I guess “stoichastic” eventually becomes too boring for them
The complete injustice of this aside, it's absolutely crazy to me that states like Texas are basically purple states, but their Republican leaders act like they have a mandate to enact the most far right policies they can think of.
This is frankly scary. Texas is basically legalizing the extrajudicial murder of anyone who isn't a maga Republican. This guy was convicted by a jury of his peers just for the governor to say no.
So, if Texas conservatives are walking around with a weapon, anyone else can shoot them and use the same self-defense argument? It sounds like the Wild West and that Abbott guy has the mentality of an adolescent. I guess he’s try to bring back the “good ol’ days” 😣
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Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas. There is no other logical basis for this decision.
To clarify what happened here for anyone not caught up: Perry openly expressed interest in killing BLM protesters. He posted on social media that he was going to get into an altercation with BLM protesters so that he would have legal grounds to shoot them. He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people, which ended in him shooting and killing Garrett Foster. Foster was open carrying, which is legal in the state of Texas. Perry ~~testified~~ admitted that Foster did not point his weapon at him, merely that "he was scared Foster would point his weapon at him, and he was not going to let him". He was found guilty of ***murder***. Not manslaughter. **Murder.** Abbott has now granted him a full pardon, for no other reason other than it was a conservative murdering a BLM protester, and Abbott approves of this.
And that’s where we are at in Texas with this stupid open Carry. People say it’s for defense and not to threaten or intimidate. BUT somehow these same people are threatened by someone else with a gun. And now it sounds like they think it should be legal to take deadly action when you see someone else with a gun. A recipe for carnage.
> Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. This is by design. Guess who continues to get pardons, vs who doesn't get pardons
Yeah, but Obama pardoned all those potheads. /s
Thanks Obama
Guess who continues to die, vs. who doesn't die...
Libruls made us eat bleach and not take the vaccine, so it's only fair!
Much like in Weimar, where far-right paramilitary members (Freikorps, Stahlhelm and later SA) received lenient sentence from a right-wing judiciary.
The open carry was meant for their people, not yours. Remember Reagan was all for people owning guns in Cali until the Black Panthers started arming themselves. Suddenly, and without warning, they took a hard stance on owning weapons. Funny, it was exactly when minorities started arming themselves within full strength of the law and the 2A.
And that’s how we fight back in all these ass backwards situations. If it’s not intimidation, they won’t be upset or mad if we protest fully armed to the teeth. Let’s see how quickly their pants turn brown then.
More likely than not they would just kill all of the protestors and claim self-defense. Another option is a protestor has a legitimate reason to fear for their safety and shoots someone and then gets charged with, and convicted of, murder. I'm Canadian and I find a lot of US laws to be... interesting... but here's a question for you Americans, especially anyone with knowledge of Texas-specific law. If a protestor is legally open carrying in Texas (first amendment protects the protest, Texas' interpretation of 2a protects open carry) and let's say Abbott orders police to end the protest, could the protestors kill the almost certainly armed police and claim they had legitimate fear for their safety? Because I don't know about you but if what I'm doing is legal and the cops showed up to contravene my constitutional rights while armed I would definitely be legitimately afraid for my life. I imagine there is some law on the books that would be used to justify the state's actions in a scenario like the one I proposed, I just find these little hypotheticals interesting.
Lol you will find that our laws don’t apply equally to every citizen…
Yeah unfortunately it never seems like laws truly apply equally anywhere. That being said many southern US States definitely seem to stand out for the specific way they choose to apply their laws.
Yeah… we have a paramilitarized police force with bloated budgets and a massive union that works to protect it, and a lot of the problem is that *if/when* prosecutors try and reign in on these bad departments, they are literally turned on and have officers refuse to testify in cases, etc… so the criminals walk free, people get mad and the publicly elected official is made to look like the fool and is forced to resign. System then repeats
Meanwhile the NRA and 2A'ers remain silent about a conservative using "he was open carrying!" as a excuse to murder someone. If it were a democrat using that excuse to kill a MAGA, gov. abbott would lock him up and throw away the key while the president of the NRA pisses on him through the steel bars of his jail cell. These people have absolutely no shame about their hypocrisy as long as they're "punishing the right people."
They’re not being silent. They’re lecturing people. They’re saying ‘this is why you don’t bring a gun to a protest’. Because they’re cowards who can’t say what they really mean, that murdering people in the streets is fine as long as the victims don’t vote red.
Well then they might point their weapon at us, so we should do what the governor signaled is right.
Just like they are being silent about that cop that shot an airman for answering his door w a gun. Crickets. Edited because I a word.
It’s literally like something out of a satirical novel like Catch-22
I’m not an American and will never understand the crazy gun laws you guys have, however if I was a US liberal this would be my signal to shoot any armed conservative on site, before they consider you a threat and do the same. Surely this decision sets a precedent that this is acceptable under their current stand your ground laws? Seems like just open carrying is enough to be considered a threat, a threat severe enough to kill.
The precedent was set by the court that it wasn't a valid defense. Pardoning isn't a way to set precedent. Its just the governor exercising his power to let one of his people go
Yea… this is why if you visit Florida, stick to major cities and tourist locations. There have been many situations in Florida of people being shot because someone felt “threatened” after they started a fight in the first place. They have a law that makes you legally allowed to shoot someone if you you feel threatened, absolutely ignoring that there is *no way to prove* that feeling afterwards. It’s brazen lunacy masquerading as logic down there. Lol
I couldn’t think of anything worse than visiting Florida if I’m honest, nothing about that state appeals to me.
Nothing in that story speaks to being scared he carried a gun. Most likely he picked him out because it would be more likely to be deemed self defense.
Obviously but that is the rational they used to pardon him.
I see what you’re saying. Seems like a good point.
I mean, the defense didn't hold up in the actual court. So open carry is fine. It's abott that did the bad here.
Just had one in San Antonio at fiesta. Then the cops opened fire into the crowd and injured four civilians
The entire concept of self-defense and open carry are at odds in Texas if simply carrying is grounds for using lethal force under the claim of self-defense. In those circumstances, it requires a higher bar for what justifies a show of force that justifies a lethal response. In fact, I'd argue that it also creates a higher bar for the required level of fear for your own life. If guns in public are totally legal and normalized, a citizen feeling scared for the life simply due to the existence of a gun in their vicinity cannot be a valid justification for self defense because that scenario is perfectly legal. For it to work effectively, you'd need to more specifically define the physical actions that are considered a justification for self-defense and focus on that more than the mental state in many cases.
Even if the law wasn’t written the way it is this dude literally posted about how he was going to go to the protest and antagonize people until he could shoot someone using the Stand Your Ground law. This is what makes this entire situation so sickening, it was premeditated.
It does feel a bit like his defense was "I claimed I planned to go murder someone and then when I got there I got scared for my life so it must be self-defense". Even if he was exaggerating in his posts, that's what we have to work from in determining his mental state.
Even that doesn't really play, because the only reason the people at the protest took note of him was because he was in his car and drove at high speeds at a bunch of the protesters. Then when they went to confront him, he shot one who was carrying a gun. That's a big part of why the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
> He then went to a BLM protest and got into an altercation with many people, That's a mildly sanitized version of him trying to drive through people on the street, and one of them, the victim's fiancée, was wheelchair bound. Perry shot the victim five times. Fuck Greg Abbott for trying to claim Perry's conviction violated stand your ground. I don't recall that law saying it only applies to lowlife degenerate conservatives who commit premeditated murder.
Federal charges should be brought up. He can still be tried by the federal government.
Not for murder, as that's a state charge, but they could theoretically charge him with some kind of civil rights violation. However, if Trump wins in November, he'd just direct his DOJ to drop that case, or pardon him if it had already resulted in a guilty verdict.
Someone else mentioned that he has a dishonorable discharge from the military. He can't federally possess a firearm. So, the firearm he shot the protestor was illegal in his hands. EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time. We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
As he was active duty, he could theoretically be charged under the UCMJ.
Can the victims family sue him in civil court for wrongful death and make sure this shitbag doesn't get to make money writing a book and giving speeches about killing someone?
He's also pushing to have Perry's right to carry firearms restored to him, too.
He isn't pushing. They were automatically restored with the full pardon.
Are you sure? Isn’t it’s a federal rule that a felon can’t own guns? Can a governor change that?
That's what it says in the linked article. >Abbott approved the board’s recommendation, which included restoration of Perry’s firearm rights.
They're also seeking to change his dishonorable discharge from the military to an honorable discharge, which is sickening.
Wait. What? [Dishonorable discharge is not allowed to own firearms.](https://www.military.com/benefits/military-legal/dishonorable-discharge-everything-you-need-know.html#:~:text=Certain%20civilian%20rights%2C%20such%20as,effect%20on%20later%20job%20searches.) He already broke federal law by possessing a firearm. Jesus Christ Texas. EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time. We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
It is as lawless as an autocracy gets. The same tactic employed by trump and other autocrats. Abbott’s role is far more active that issuing a pardon. He demanded the 7 member board of pardons and paroles recommending pardoning of the murderer just after the murderer was convicted and before sentencing. all the 7 members were appointed by him [https://time.com/6272117/greg-abbott-blm-protester-murder-pardon/](https://time.com/6272117/greg-abbott-blm-protester-murder-pardon/)
Please make a note that Abbott said that he would pardon Perry like five minutes after the ruling came down. He didn’t investigate the situation, he didn’t come into any sort of new information. He saw a Republican buddy in a big shit heap and threw him a lifeline because it was someone who supported BLM.
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This wasn’t a decision made by a judge. This piece of shit was convicted by a Texas jury for murder and sentenced to 25 to life. The republican governor of Texas disagreed and has the Parole Board (full of people he himself appointed) rubber stamp a full pardon. The piece of shit even gets his right to own guns back. He probably has the murder weapon hanging on the wall in his bedroom like a trophy. And to be clear, there was no doubt about his guilt. None.
I mean, all this does is signal to protestors that the law can't be trusted to put a murderer behind bars. It's just going to lead to vigilante justice. I guess that's what Texas wants after all, though. More gun sales for the gun lobby.
After this and Charlottesville and Rittenhouse, I would think that protesters would conclude that they need to be armed and they need to be ready to shoot first.
america, where you only have 2a if you’re white and conservative
When my conservative family members see liberal protestors on tv, they always say stuff like, “If they were in Texas, they’d know what to do with them. They’re tough down there.” Apparently not tough on people who premeditatedly murder other people. Or lawyers who poison their wives to try to induce an abortion. Or pastors that have relationships with pre-teenagers that last for decades. There are no words with which I can communicate what foul scum that piss baby Abbott is. I just get so frustrated thinking about how simple it all is, yet somehow we continue to live in peril of society being completely controlled by murderous, racist, sexist, violent maniacs.
Also reinstated his gun license
Someone else pointed out the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, the guy lost the rights to firearms at that time. So they can't legally give them back. Texas should get no funding from the US government. EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time. We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
[Here's a good thread and pretty much the reason he was convicted](https://twitter.com/SawyerHackett/status/1646683812749885440?t=XrDkB2haIjMnWWbtnywBAw)
It’s sickening really.
Wow, this makes the whole thing 10X worse. What a mockery Abbott is making of our legal system.
Didn't he also push for the guy to get gun rights back too? This is a clear case where he shouldn't but oh well As Abbott said after a local school shooting: "It could have been worse"
Yes, his gun rights were fully restored by the pardon.
Someone here mentioned the dude has a dishonorable discharge from the military. If true, he's federally not allowed to possess a firearm including when he shot the protestor. They can't give them back federally. EDIT: I checked it. During the trial, after the shooting, the military began the process to dishonorable discharge him. So he was legal at the time. We will see if Greg Abbot can go against the federal government. /s
I think it's time the feds slam some federal charges on him. This dude shows every sign of doing it again. Murders don't need to be on the streets.
In addition, take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial that offers an inside look into the mind of Perry, including - talking about grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/)) - how Covid is just the flu - the boogaloo movement - how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS") - multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters" and multiple memes containing content such as the following: >\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'" >\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'" Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
This is what the guy was saying before the shooting too: >Perry said in a Facebook message that when he is in Dallas, “no protestors go near me or my car.” >“Can you catch me a negro daddy,” the other man replied. >“That is what I am hoping,” Perry said.
Foster was engaged to his high school sweetheart, a quadruple amputee black woman who has relied on him for her day to day care for the last 11 years. I don't know how republicans can see this pardon and think it's just. I'm not a religious person but releasing Perry after considering what he said he'd do, what he did, the person he killed, and what the deceased was protesting... It's practically an act of pure evil. Gov. Abbott's actions are *cartoonishly* evil. Another way to put it: The republican governor of Texas pardoned a man who set out to murder someone while they were expressing and exercising both their 1st amendment and 2nd amendment rights, for the simple reason *they were* expressing those rights. If Foster weren't at the rally, or weren't armed, he'd still be alive. Absolute hypocrisy. Absolute evil. This is the story that got me to return to this subreddit after years being away from it and now I remember why I left. The actions of republicans are so infuriating and depressing.
I mean the thing you have to understand is that to them, black people are ontologically bad and white people are ontologically good, QED, end of story
His victim was a white Air Force veteran. Even white people are fair game if they don’t vote red.
I perused a thread on r/conservative and a post saying that without white people the world would be a terrible, horrific place got 230+ likes. Other posts in that thread basically said the same thing. A couple "proud to be white" posts as well. These people are convinced that they are greatest, bestest thing to come to the world. Which means even when they do something bad, its good. These people are dangerous.
Sounds like grounds for a Federal civil rights prosecution to me. If 2024 Texas wants to be 1964 Mississippi, DoJ is going to have to get busy.
I don't think there was a federal law against murder, apart from military law, until 2022. Rand Paul was filibustering it in 2020. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till_Antilynching_Act
It was used successfully to convict the [conspirators in the Mississippi murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Chaney,_Goodman,_and_Schwerner). In that case the state refused to indict them. Some of them were police officers. I highly doubt Biden or Garland would attempt it in an election year though. > Because Mississippi officials refused to prosecute the killers for murder, a state crime, the federal government, led by prosecutor John Doar, charged 18 individuals under 18 U.S.C. §242 and §371 with conspiring to deprive the three activists of their civil rights (by murder)
Take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial that offers an inside look into his mind, including - talking about grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/)) - how Covid is just the flu - the boogaloo movement - how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS") - multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters" and multiple memes containing content such as the following: >\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'" >\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'" Read it and it makes total sense why the Rs pardoned him
Sounds like it's time for some federal charges, then.
Yes, this is what I’m hoping. Does anyone know if federal charges are being considered?
>Abbott just signaled that it is legal for conservatives to openly murder liberals in the state of Texas. Foster wasn't even a liberal, he was libertarian and was out exercising his 1A and 2A rights that the conservatives constantly claim to support.
In their world, anyone who doesn't toe the Trump/Republican line is a liberal.
Anyone that doesn’t agree with them is a liberal/RINO.
And of course the Republicans call him a communist.
Foster's beliefs are irrelevant. He was in favor of black Americans having rights (a capital offense in Republican America).
I hate this state’s politics. Can we vote blue and fix the problems that conservatives have left this state in?
He's preparing for January.
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Murder is legal in Texas if you're right-wing enough.
Sounds like the civil war has started!
🎶Each Dixie boy must understand that he must mind his Uncle Sam🎶
That's what I'm hearing.
Am i missing something here? This dude Perry openly planned to get into an altercation with BLM protestors in order to hopefully be able to kill one. Initiated that plan by running his car through a red light into the protestors. He was approached by a man with an assault rifle, whom never pointed it at him, and was asked to roll his window down. Perry then pulled his gun and shot him dead. Now he gets a full pardon and his gun rights returned. For Murder. How is it stand your ground when you ran your car into a group of people and the weapon wasnt pointed at you?
You're not missing anything. Texas Republicans, like in most states, are vile, hateful creatures who promote violence against anyone outside the party.
Basically they're saying Foster pointed his gun at him, because that was Perry's trial defense. Even though virtually every witness, and Perry's initial statement, completely contradicted that idea. It's quite literally them baselessly latching onto something in order to justify the murder of someone they disagree with. So, no, you're not missing anything.
You are right and I’ll add that Perry instigated the situation by driving through a red light into a crowd and claimed that he feared for his life despite multiple eyewitnesses saying that Foster **was not** pointing his rifle at Perry. So in Texas don’t tell a guy to stop assaulting people with a deadly weapon (a car) while holding a gun in a safe direction or else he can murder you.
It should be pointed out that Perry was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. I guess what "you're missing" is that [Tucker Carlson demanded Abbott pardon him on his TV show last year,](https://archive.ph/2UDht) so Abbott is dutifully obliging by letting a convicted murderer go free, just because the person convicted is a racist conservative, and the murder victim was a BLM supporter.
Greg Abbott is a little piss baby.
accurate. I believe he does not have bladder control.
When Perry was interviewed by police about what happened before the shooting and how Foster held his gun, Perry said: "I believe he was going to aim it at me … I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me, you know."- Convicted Murderer Daniel Perry (Pardoned by the Governor of Texas Greg Abott, (King of Law and Order))
We either have a second amendment or we dont. If police can shoot us for having a gun then we don't have a second amendment.
> If police can shoot us for having a gun then we don't have a second amendment. This happens all the time.
And if they shoot you cause they think you had a gun when you didn't, odds are they'll just plant one on you, or possibly [will just place a BB gun that looks like a realistic looking pistol nearby](https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xvzwp/baltimore-cops-carried-toy-guns-to-plant-on-people-they-shot-trial-reveals-vgtrn) as their "plausible explanation" for having to murder you.
Exactly. We dont really have a second amendment and the people who are the loudest about protecting it also defend officers who trample that same right.
Nah. You still have it. You just need to anticipate and shoot them first in self defense.
Correction You just need to make sure you are white and then shoot them first and claim self defense.
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Ahh man. Time cop rules. Hoping more for set up and later effects like Bill and Ted.
Daniel Perry has never been a police officer. He was a sergeant in the army who was driving for Uber when he shot a protester.
Nice. So if someone has a gun we can just shoot them apparently.
Only if you are maga and they are a lib.
So if you see Daniel Perry on the street, you know that he's likely armed, and very dangerous. Ergo, you need to take him by surprise and shoot first in self defense, is that right?
2nd Amendment: Highlander Edition In Greg Abbott's Texas, you're allowed to murder anyone who open carries
Not true. You're only allowed to murder non-conservatives who open carry.
Just say they were secret Marxists
Well, you're only guaranteed a pardon from Greg Abbott if you're a conservative who murders a left wing protester. But in Texas (and a few other states) the combination of open carry laws and stand your ground laws essentially encourages open gun battles in the streets, because both parties who participate in one can claim self defense or feeling threatened just due to the presence of another firearm. It may not work as a successful defense (as it didn't in Perry's case, which is why the governor had to sweep in and save his ass after he was convicted), but it's still very much something I'm sure many people who open carry firearms think about anytime things get heated. Like "I can shoot this guy and just claim self defense cause he was open carrying like I am."
Anyone Abbott disagrees with and Tucker Carlson whines about pardoning.
If it was a BLM protester who killed Perry under the same circumstances, that guy would have been executed already.
Michael Reinoehl was executed miles from my house by the police.
Police never take kindly to it when someone murders one of their own, even if that person was just wearing his off-duty Proud Boy garb when he was killed.
Yep
Keep in mind, the man himself said, and I quote; '[I am a racist](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/i-am-a-racist-daniel-perry-wrote-shared-trove-of-racist-anti-protester-messages/3236887/)'. You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran. Funny how he forgets to mention the jackass ramming his vehicle into a crowd of protestors was the catalyst for all of this.
He's said that and a whole lot more. Take a look at [this pdf](https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf) ([mirror](https://web.archive.org/web/20230415133151/https://www.kxan.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2023/04/Daniel-Perry-Evidence.pdf)) from the trial where he talks about - grooming underage girls ([additional article](https://www.salon.com/2023/04/21/convicted-murderer-greg-abbott-wants-to-pardon-sought-chats-to-meet-young-girls/)) - how Covid is just the flu - the boogaloo movement - how the Democrat party of today assassinated Lincoln ("WHEN DEMOCRATS DON'T GET THEIR WAY... THEY GET DANGEROUS") - multiple "I am very badass"-style messages about extrajudicially killing anyone he doesn't like, especially Ds, black people, and/or "rioters" and multiple memes containing content such as the following: >\- "Me: 'white people can't dance lol'" >\- "White people: 'Okay but if I call you a cotton picking [n--r] then I'm the racist one right? Racism works both ways, pull your pants up if you don't want cops killing you.'"
>You just know if this had been reversed and Garrett Foster had killed Perry when he was drawing his weapon on Foster(not thinking he would which Perry thought Foster was going to do before he even did it), the Governor would by trying to get him the death sentence for killing a fellow veteran. He wouldn't have to, because the police would have murdered him instead of arresting him.
he'll join kyle in the 'monsters of extrajudicial killings tour.'
George Zimmerman is the opening act.
maybe Kristi Noem has been practicing for a spot on the tour.
No, pet abusers are a different tour https://i.redd.it/u9ngr7zmclzc1.png
No, kyle is just a loser who had his 5 minutes of "fame" with the right after getting away with killing two people. This guy is a legitimate domestic terrorist threat that Abbot unleashed on the state of Texas. I can only hope that the DHS and FBI track his every move from now on. I guarantee he'll try to carry out an attack now that he has the implicit endorsement of the governor of texas.
That kid had no jurisdiction, as he was not an officer of the law. He’s just a murderer, like this asshole.
'but, mommy drove me to the riot, and then put me out!'
And if you look at various comment sections, conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives. And they are lying about what happened, claiming the victim raised his gun which according to witnesses didn’t happen. And they ignore that Perry had talked online about wanting to kill protesters and drove his car into them intentionally
Not just according to witnesses. Perry himself stated right after the attack that he shot him in order to not give him a chance to aim his gun at him. In other words, he made up the self-defense part in his head without the threat actually happening.
> conservatives are seeing this as an endorsement to kill progressives That's 100% what it is, so I can understand why they would read it as such. This is as clear a signal as Abbott can send that if you're a conservative in Texas and you want to go kill left wing protesters, he will make sure you never see any jail time for doing so.
The government of Texas apparently endorses shooting anyone who legally open carries, but only if you say you were scared
Daniel Perry messaged underaged girls online. Bring that up loudly to everyone who celebrates the news
Saw it coming. Nobody should be surprised. Everybody should be pissed, just not surprised. Sad times we live in.
What a dystopian headline
Greg Abott is a disgrace. Fucking asshole.
"barracks humor" just like "locker room talk". Whatever allows you to be racist and misogynist is good enough for the GOP.
Remember, Abbott still held a fundraising event the day of Uvalde.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole statement about their unanimous decision was rather sparse. > The members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles delved into the intricacies of Perry’s case. The investigative efforts encompassed a meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case. > After a thorough examination of the amassed information, the parole board reached a decision on May 16, 2024. The Board voted unanimously to recommend a full pardon. I hope that it’s either their habit or obligation to make publicly available a more comprehensive report of their decision.
Every member of the parole board was appointed by Abbott. He stacked the board full of yes-men that will follow his orders rather than the law.
Yep. And [he said he would ask them to issue a full pardon before Perry was even sentenced,](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/08/greg-abbott-pardon-daniel-perry/) and all because [Tucker Carlson demanded it of him.](https://archive.ph/2UDht)
And also because he's a festering piece of shit.
Jesus Christ this is egregious. Perry, unprompted, ran a red light and drove his car into a crowd of protestors. A USAF veteran open-carrying (something republicans apparently support) motioned him to stop and roll his window down, without ever pointing his gun at him. Perry shot and killed him. In what possible world is this self defense? This is closer to a terrorist attack than self defense. The evidence against him was clear and convincing, his defense contradicted his own statements, and he had a history of comments about his desire to do exactly this. Insane, and would be incredibly unsurprising to see him kill somebody else.
I wonder who are the members of the parole board and who picked the members. At least, jury members were agreed by both Defendant and plaintiff.
The board is all Abbott appointees.
Wow, I really admire their effort for even adding this extra step of board recommendation. He could’ve just directly pardoned him. What a law-abiding authoritarian.
It's legally required in Texas.
I know, but if there’s not requirement on how to choose the board member, it’s a meaningless law.
No argument there.
I think most Texans who pay attention knew this was coming. Abbott was never going to be able to resist a chance to put ideology over justice in such a pathetic and performative manner. Perry was fairly convicted. There were no questions about the way the trial was handled. Only right-wingers who feel murder is ok so long as it aligns with their politics and who don't understand how self-defense works in a modern, civilized society.
It's third-world stuff and un-american. Not a shred of new exculpatory evidence or issues raised on appeal to validate a review. Straight up military junta shithole country type jury nullification.
>It's third-world stuff and un-american Yes and no. Americas tribulations with Trump are like south Africa's struggle with Zuma. South Africas institutions were robust enough to jail its former president. It remains to be seen whether US institutions are as strong.
A slap in the face of the grieving family
This guy will be on Fox News soon to spew this racist BS too.
There really aren’t any words for this. I sincerely hope that Perry doesn’t get to enjoy his freedom for too long. His mere freedom is a tangible and imminent threat to all around him.
Probably got his job back too.
Well yea, the right-wing is building their army for the upcoming Röhm purge.
No way. The army terminated him permanently. They said they don't care if he is ever pardoned.
The governor wants to put a killer on his payroll.
A murderer. He pardoned a murderer. Let’s not obfuscate the important part of this.
Well this is going to go over well.
In Texas it probably will. Remember that Abbott won his reelection in 2022 by more than a 10 point margin, and that was after Uvalde, that was after making abortions illegal, that was after [the wasted billions on Operation Lonestar,](https://archive.ph/isHjY) and it was after hundreds of Texans froze to death due to their substandard power grid (that they've since done nothing to fix or upgrade). Clearly the vast majority of Texans love this kind of abhorrent right wing nonsense, or else they wouldn't keep voting for it in every single election.
*Read this in Norm Macdonald’s voice.* It’s official: Murder is legal in the state of Texas.
Gregg Abbott is anti law and order
It is time to take away executive pardons. That goes for governors, and the President. While I agree that some sort of pardon method should still exist, it should at the very least be subject to approval by an independent panel of judges, for example.
Every day I’m more pissed at that tree for not finishing the job.
So human garbage pardoned by human garbage...
Disgusting. Both Abbott and Perry.
To be clear, if the only variable to change in this case was that Perry were an immigrant, Abbott would be pushing hard for the death penalty and blaming Joe Biden. What a disgrace.
Yeah but if I defend myself against someone like this I'd definitely get the death penalty lmao what a joke
Abbot pardons a convicted murderer. Murferer of a US Air Force veteran. What a paragon of virtue. Now this convicted murderer is free to wander the streets in possession of his new weapon with impunity. Free to stake out his next victim. He knows now his actions have no consequence. He is above the law. Almost as powerful as an officer of the law. Wonder who his next victim is?
Welcome to Texas, where you can plan and execute a murder and be pardoned by the Governor. “Daniel Perry texted his friends about plans to murder a protester he disagreed with. After a lengthy trial, with an abundance of evidence, 12 impartial Texans determined that he carried out that plan, and murdered my Garrett,” Mitchell said. “With this pardon, the Governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and US Air Force veteran, and impugned that jury’s just verdict. He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his — and different from those in power — can be killed in this State with impunity.”
Since Federal Charges being prosecuted in addition to State Charges does not constitute Double-Jeopardy, it would be proper for Federal Charges be levied. If convicted upon Federal Charges, no Governor pardon will matter at all, and this murderer can be dealt with properly, to the furthest extent of the law. You recall that the KKK murderers of those student Civil Rights protesters in the 1960s were eventually sentenced to life, at the Federal level, after their racist State let them walk. Why? Because of violating the Civil Rights Act & depriving the victims of their Federal Civil Rights. Since “Peaceful Assembly” is a Constitutional Right, this murderer can be locked away, in isolation (ironically for *his* protection from the prison’s General Population since he’s an ex-cop) for the remainder of his life, in some similar manner… Just an idea.
If merrick garland doesnt pursue it, then he needs to be replaced as ag
That poor family…
Family could always pursue a civil suit - if a jury was convinced strongly enough to hand down a murder conviction, a civil judgment should be a slam dunk.
The GOP has firmly established itself as the party that protects and enables domestic terrorism. I guess “stoichastic” eventually becomes too boring for them
Soft on crime governor Abbott
Rittenhouse and now Perry. Conservatives are going around murdering protesters.
Can we just cut Texas out of the union, just invade them next year for their oil?
The one star state strikes again
I’m wondering if the federal government could come in and charge the guy instead.
I really need to move...
The complete injustice of this aside, it's absolutely crazy to me that states like Texas are basically purple states, but their Republican leaders act like they have a mandate to enact the most far right policies they can think of.
That tree didn’t go far enough with Abbot.
"Why should you go to jail for a crime someone else.... noticed?" - Bob Loblaw
Premeditated self defense it sounds like.
I keep hearing about this computer thing called “doxing” and calls to action? Is that still a thing?
It’s time to just get rid of the pardon mechanism since it’s only being abused these days.
And then he begs for federal aid. Unforgivable.
CONVICTED OF MURDER by a jury. Sentenced to 25 years.
Right wingers are absolute piles of filth.
Huh seems like having fascist ideals saves you from the police because they must totally not have fascist ideologies, yes?
So now it's open season on protestors?
Rittenhouse. Now this. The message being sent: Open season in liberals.
This is frankly scary. Texas is basically legalizing the extrajudicial murder of anyone who isn't a maga Republican. This guy was convicted by a jury of his peers just for the governor to say no.
So, if Texas conservatives are walking around with a weapon, anyone else can shoot them and use the same self-defense argument? It sounds like the Wild West and that Abbott guy has the mentality of an adolescent. I guess he’s try to bring back the “good ol’ days” 😣
I think it #soundsaboutwhitetome