Records reveal Daniel Perry's racist social media posts

Daniel Perry's social media posts revealed in court documents

A judge unsealed court records that offer more insight into the character of a man convicted of killing an Austin protester. Gov. Greg Abbott wants that man pardoned.

AUSTIN, Texas - Court records show that a man convicted of killing an Austin protester made a number of racist remarks in social media posts.

Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants to pardon that man.

The social media posts that have been released were not heard or viewed by the jury in Daniel Perry’s murder trial.

Perry was convicted of the July 2020 shooting death of a Black Lives Matter protestor during a demonstration in Downtown Austin.

Daniel Perry was found guilty of murder in the death of Garrett Foster, a Black Lives Matter protester, in 2020.

He has not yet been sentenced for the killing of 28-year-old Garrett Foster.

On Thursday, a judge in Travis County unsealed court records that appear to shed light on Perry’s mindset before the deadly shooting.

The Austin American Statesman reported the records revealed anti-protestor social media posts.

In one of those posts, Perry said "Black Lives Matter is racist to white people… It is official. I am racist because I do not agree with people acting like monkeys."

Garrett Foster was killed during a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin in 2020.

And on June 1, 2020, Perry also posted on Facebook, "Now it is my turn to get banned (from Facebook) by comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their (expletive)."

Also from around this time, Perry posted that his parents own a four-bedroom house and "the BLM movement believes my parents should give their house to a poor black family… and pretty much live in a one-bedroom house that they should buy with money they don’t have."

The posts come as his defense team seeks a new trial for his case, partly because they said evidence supporting Perry’s claims of self-defense were withheld during the first trial.

Gov. Abbott has called for the Board of Pardons and Paroles to pardon Perry. The governor claims Perry was acting to protect himself under Texas’ Stand Your Ground Law and referred to the Travis County District Attorney as a progressive district attorney.

Travis County DA Jose Garza criticized the governor’s pardon request and said Abbott is weakening the rule of law in Texas and undermining public safety.

He added that it’s the jury that gets to decide a defendant’s guilt or innocence, not the governor.

Garza said his office will continue to hold people who commit acts of gun violence accountable.