June 4 (Reuters) – A Texas prosecutor asked the state’s highest criminal court on Tuesday to reverse a pardon granted by Governor Gregg Abbott to a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, a Democrat whose office tried the murder case, said he asked the state Court of Criminal Appeals for a special order, called a writ of mandamus, to overturn Abbott’s action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garza told a news briefing in the state capital of Austin that Abbott, a Republican, violated the separation of powers doctrine of the state’s constitution and failed to follow proper legal procedures in the way he pardoned Daniel Perry last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request seeking comment on Garza’s move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perry, convicted last year, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting Garrett Foster, a U.S. Air Force veteran, in July 2020 during the protest against racial injustice following the George Floyd killing by police in Minneapolis months earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foster, 28, was white, as is Perry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perry, then 37, insisted he was acting in self-defense and opened fire because Foster was brandishing an AK-47 rifle at him. The trial presented conflicting accounts on whether Foster leveled his rifle at Perry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors said Foster, who was legally armed at the time, had approached Perry’s car to protect his fellow protesters, believing Perry might assault them with his vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The jury sided against Perry, whose case became a cause celebre for political conservatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n