A Travis County jury declined to convict Daniel Perry of a misdemeanor deadly conduct charge stemming from the fatal shooting of a Black Lives Matter protester.
Perry was previously convicted of fatally shooting Garrett Foster in 2020. The former Army sergeant drove into a downtown Austin march in July 2020 while driving for Uber before getting into an altercation with Foster. Perry fatally shot him, was convicted and later pardoned by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Five years after the incident, Travis County prosecutors pursued a misdemeanor charge of deadly conduct, punishable by up to a year of prison, and that case went to a jury trial this week. Attorneys were not allowed to bring up Perry’s murder charge during the four-day trial.
The Travis County attorneys office argued Perry “plowed” into the demonstrators and that anti-Black Lives Matter memes and texts he’d shared ahead of the incident suggested he wanted to harm protesters.
Doug O’Connell, one of Perry’s attorneys, said in closing arguments that jurors may not want “to have him for dinner,” but that Perry’s driving that night did not meet the standard for deadly conduct.
“They spent more time on text messages and memes because they have no other evidence,” O’Connell said. “They want you to convict him based on thought crimes, not evidence.”
Travis County lead attorney Afton Washbourne said Perry’s driving was reckless and that he put the lives of demonstrators marching down Congress Avenue in danger.
“In a fight between a car and a human, the car is going to win,” she said.
After a little over two hours of deliberation, the six-person jury rendered a not guilty verdict.
Source: www.kut.org
