A prosecutor says he is asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reverse the governor’s pardon of a former Army sergeant who was convicted of fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter demonstrator.

The Texas governor’s pardon of a former Army sergeant who fatally shot a Black Lives Matter demonstrator undermines the state’s legal system and constitution and should be reversed, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he is filing request with the Court of Criminal Appeals — the state’s highest criminal court — to review the pardon issued by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, which he said made a mockery of the legal system and put politics ahead of justice.

“We will continue to use the legal process to seek justice,” Garza said during a news conference in Austin.

Daniel Perry shot and killed Garrett Foster during a protest in downtown Austin in July 2020. Perry was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2023, prompting immediate calls for a pardon from conservative figures. Abbott issued the pardon last month and Perry was quickly released from prison.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    5 months ago

    I’ve got a bad feeling that a Governor’s pardon doesn’t have a legal avenue for being reversed. I hope I’m wrong, and IANAL, but I have a suspicion that even though this was absolute horseshit we’re going to be stuck with it.