Several Democratic attorneys general sent a letter to the Department of Justice, urging it to probe the case of Daniel Perry, who was pardoned of murder charges earlier this month.
Last year, Perry became a cause celebre among conservatives after a jury found him guilty of murder for shooting and killing an antiracist protester in 2020. Following pressure from right-wing political figures, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry on May 16, overruling the jury’s verdict and backing Perry’s claim that Texas’ “stand your ground” self-defense laws should have shielded him.
The letter, sent Wednesday, is signed by attorneys general from New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Arizona, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
In their letter, the Democratic AGs note the disturbing facts of Perry’s case, such as the racist and anti-Muslim messages sent from Perry’s phone, along with messages about committing violence against protesters. Their letter urges the DOJ to open a civil rights investigation into Perry and warns that Abbott’s support for the killer’s “stand your ground” defense risks empowering future vigilantes.
They wrote:
Recently, Governor Greg Abbott granted a pardon to Perry for his conviction of murder. Mr. Foster was openly carrying a firearm at the protest—an act that is legal in Texas—and Mr. Perry claimed that he had acted in self-defense, relying on Texas’ so-called “stand your ground” law. In pardoning Mr. Perry, Governor Abbott also cited to Texas’ “stand your ground” law. The undersigned Attorneys General are concerned that these “stand your ground” laws encourage vigilantes to attend protests armed and ready to shoot and kill those who exercise their First Amendment rights.
The attorneys were emphatic that Texas’ law should not be used to trample on people’s constitutional freedoms.
“We note that whether or not Texas law gives Mr. Perry a defense to state prosecution for his actions here, Texas law does not prevent a federal prosecution for Mr. Perry’s act of killing someone for racial reasons in order to prevent him from exercising constitutional rights,” they wrote.
Last week, after a report found the Austin Police Department had quietly drafted a letter also pushing for a pardon for Perry, I warned that such an intervention could justify violent crime in Texas as long as the victims are targets of conservatives. The Democratic attorneys general who signed the letter seem to have a similar concern.