When the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Governor Greg Abbott grant clemency to Daniel Perry, the former Army sergeant who murdered a Black Lives Matter protester in Austin in 2020, its seven members were aware of another violent incident in Perry’s past. Police records and court documents obtained by Texas Monthly detail that in 2005, Perry was arrested on a charge that he violently assaulted his younger sister. Travis County district attorney José Garza presented a summary of the class A misdemeanor charge, whose full contents have not been previously reported, to the board in April 2024, six weeks before that entity unanimously advised Abbott to issue a pardon.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Perry, then eighteen, and his sister, sixteen, were riding a bus home from school in Carrollton, a suburb north of Dallas, that November when they began to spat. Perry’s sister “was arguing with Daniel not to open her music case,” the document outlines. When the bus made a stop to allow students to exit, she crossed the aisle to reach Perry and slapped him on the arm. Perry then pushed his sister into the seat and “struck her with his closed fists numerous times about the head causing injury.” Perry was arrested and subsequently posted a $1,000 bond. After entering a plea of no contest—which means he neither denied the charges nor admitted guilt—he received deferred adjudication for fifteen months and was ordered to pay a $400 fine and court costs to Dallas County. He was also required to make a $25 contribution to a women’s shelter, take an anger-management course, and attend a domestic violence victim impact panel. Perry’s community supervision expired on May 30, 2008.
Perry’s attorney, Doug O’Connell, denied repeated requests for an interview with him or his client about what happened, as did Perry’s sister. Andre Cerminara, the Addison police officer who responded to the initial call, told Texas Monthly he does not recall the incident.
Perry’s mom, Rachel Perry, who also declined an interview request, previously defended her son to Texas Monthly. “He was a regular kid,” she said. “He would come home late or crash a car. I mean, it was just regular stuff a teenager does. He was definitely not perfect, so I really don’t want to paint that Daniel Perry was a perfect person.”
In 2020, Perry, who was driving for Uber, ran a red light and drove into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Austin. As Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran in the crowd who was legally carrying a rifle, neared the car, Perry shot him five times, killing him. Though Perry would later claim that he acted in self-defense, he indicated to a responding officer that night that Foster had not aimed his gun at him. A grand jury indicted Perry on murder charges a year later.
Before the trial began, the Travis County district attorney’s office submitted to the presiding judge, Cliff Brown, 76 pages of evidence of extraneous conduct, a prosecutorial tactic used to demonstrate a pattern of misconduct by a defendant. Brown ruled that prior acts could not be admitted as evidence during the trial, but after the jury reached a guilty verdict, he unsealed the documents ahead of sentencing. The dossier opened with Perry’s domestic violence incident. Subsequent items outlined Perry’s racist texts and social media posts, as well as messages of a romantic nature to a girl who claimed to be underage. Brown sentenced Perry to 25 years in prison.
Abbott, who can only issue clemency on the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, called for Perry’s pardon a day after he was found guilty. The board took up the case, and in April of 2024, Garza submitted the 76-page file to them. When the members made their recommendation in May, the governor swiftly freed Perry from prison and restored his right to carry firearms.
Republican officials in Texas celebrated the board’s decision and the governor’s action. Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted that day that he was “relieved that justice has prevailed.” Congressman Chip Roy, from a district that stretches west from Austin, praised the pardon as “excellent,” and then–Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi said it was “about freaking time.”
When contacted through a spokesperson, members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles did not respond to an interview request about the Perry case. Experts say, however, that previous acts of violence could influence the members’ decisions on whether to grant clemency. Gary Cohen, a parole attorney who has been practicing for more than thirty years, has consulted with the board on its operations. “In considering these pardon applications, [members are] looking at the entire course of conduct that an offender has engaged in,” he said. “If he had had prior encounters with the law, especially if it was a prior violent act, then that shows a disturbing pattern or course of conduct.”
Members of Foster’s family, including his mother, sister, and fiancée, fear that Perry could pose a dangerous risk to society. “Like any defendant, there is an abundance of evidence suggesting that Daniel Perry has a violent history or violent tendencies,” said Angelica Cogliano, an attorney who represents Whitney Mitchell, Foster’s fiancée. “People have a whole package of experiences and statements and history, and his very clearly shows somebody that isn’t a hero, at minimum, and could be a very big danger to the community, at worst.”
Prosecutors continue to bring charges against Perry. The veteran faces a misdemeanor deadly conduct charge related to Foster’s death, with a maximum punishment of $4,000 and a year of jail time. A pretrial hearing is set for September 5 in Travis County criminal court.
Meanwhile, New York attorney general Letitia James, joined by top law enforcement officials in twelve other states and Washington, D.C., wrote a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into Foster’s murder. “In pardoning Mr. Perry, Governor Abbott also cited Texas’ ‘stand your ground’ law,” James wrote to U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland. “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.”
In June of 2024, Garza challenged Abbott’s pardon by filing a writ of mandamus with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court. This seldom used judicial remedy instructs a government official or lower court to take action to correct an abuse of justice. In the filing, Garza argued that the pardon violated the Texas constitution and should be overturned. “The governor intervened in that [legal] process and prohibited the judiciary from doing their work,” Garza said at a press conference announcing his decision. “That’s a violation of the separation of powers principles.”
Three weeks later, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the motion. None of the nine elected judges—all Republicans—publicly offered any official explanation why.
