WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2023) US Army sergeant Daniel Perry who shot and killed Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrator Garrett Foster in Texas in 2020 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, CNN reported.
Perry shot Foster, a 28-year-old US Air Force veteran, at a racial justice rally in Austin, Texas, two months after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Perry's attorney said his client plans to appeal the verdict. The defense team sought a ten-year prison sentence, pointing to Perry's absence of criminal history, psychological issues, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and compliments from a number of military colleagues.
However, the prosecution asked for a sentence of at least 25 years in prison because of a profusion of inflammatory social media posts Perry wrote before the shooting.
On the night of July 25, 2020, Perry was working as a ride-share driver and had just dropped a person off close to the rally when he shot Foster. Perry's lawyers argued that the shooting was in self-defense because Foster came to his car with an assault-style rifle. But prosecutors said Perry triggered the fatal encounter by running a red light and driving toward the crowd of demonstrators.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that he would seek a pardon for Perry and asked the Texas board of Pardons and Paroles to begin an expedited review of the case.
