Some Lucky Killers Get Kid Glove Treatment In Florida And Texas
What is it with Republicans, killers and insurrectionists?
The governor of Texas plans to pardon a convicted killer, a Florida congressman wants to hire a killer who got off by pleading self- defense, and the same congressman hired a soldier charged with war crimes in relation to the killing of an Iraqi prisoner of war.
Another Florida congressman wants leniency for a Jan. 6 protester who was convicted of illegally possessing weapons, grenades and a classified document.
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott plans to pardon Daniel S. Perry who was convicted last week in the murder of Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020. Perry had claimed that he shot Foster in self-defense, in line with the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said.
Abbott recommended the pardon a day after Matt Rinaldi, the chairman of the Republican Party in Texas, said “this case should have never been prosecuted” and that a pardon from the governor was “in order.”
The event unfolded just before 10 p.m., on July 25, 2020, during a protest over the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn. Joining in the protest was Foster, a 28-year-old white, Air Force veteran, Foster was legally, openly carrying an AK-47 rifle while he pushed the wheelchair of his quadruple amputee, disabled fiancee, Whitney Mitchell.
Perry, then 30, also a white man, is an Army sergeant who had served a tour in Afghanistan. On the night of July 25, Perry had been working his Uber shift when his car approached the protest. Perry allegedly was honking his horn repeatedly when he sped up into the crowd of about 20 protesters. Foster approached the car to speak with the driver, prompting Perry to whip out his handgun and shoot Foster, who was wearing a neoprene vest under his T-shirt and carrying an AK-47, a club and a knife. Perry fired five times and hit Foster with three bullets.
In April 2023, a jury found Perry guilty of murder. Prosecutors noted that Perry had made numerous posts and direct messages on social media where he had expressed his desire to shoot protesters, which, along with contradictory statements to eyewitness accounts, brought into question his claim of self-defense.
When Perry was interviewed by police about what happened before the shooting and how Foster held his gun, Perry said, “I believe he was going to aim it at me … I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me, you know.” Under the Texas “Stand Your Ground” law, a person may use deadly force to defend against unlawful deadly force from an assailant if the person did not provoke the incident.
During the closing arguments, Foster’s lawyer claimed that “Garrett Foster had every right to go up to him and see what the heck was going on. And he had every right to do it with a deadly weapon, his rifle, because [Perry] was in a deadly weapon, his car.”
The defense countered, “It is perfectly okay to feel sorry for Garrett Foster, but Garrett Foster made a choice that night. He came ready for a war, not a protest.”
Perry was indicted in July 2021 by a Travis County grand jury on charges of murder and aggravated assault. He was shortly released from jail on a $300,000 bond.
Perry’s trial began nearly three years after the killing and lasted from the end of March 2023 to the beginning of April 2023. The prosecution argued that since Foster had been exercising his right to open carry, there was no justification for Perry shooting him.
The prosecution revealed that Perry had made multiple posts and direct messages on social media expressing his desire to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters, writing in messages, “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex,” and “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”
One of Perry’s tweets copied a tweet from then-president trump on the eve of a trump rally in Tulsa, Okla., that said, “Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!”
A friend of Perry’s warned him against instigating protesters, and said, “We went through the same training … Shooting after creating an event where you have to shoot, is not a good shoot.”
Perry had expressed his support for violence against protesters on at least three social media posts, suggesting in one post to “shoot center of mass” because “it is a bigger target” and in another said, “Send [protesters] to Texas we will show them why we say you don’t mess with Texas.”
The prosecution contended that there was no evidence that Foster had pointed his weapon, and other eyewitnesses contradicted Perry’s claims that Foster did point his weapon at him. The prosecution also said that Foster’s weapon was recovered with its safety on and no bullets in the chamber.
Jurors were shown footage of Perry’s police interrogation, where he said “I believe he was going to aim it (rifle) at me … I didn’t want to give him a chance to aim at me.”
After one week of deliberations, the jury found Perry guilty of murder. Perry is awaiting sentencing, facing five years to life behind bars.
Following Perry’s conviction, conservative commentators, gun rights activists and politicians began a campaign to urge Abbott to pardon Perry, supporting Perry’s self-defense claim. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, tweeted on April 5, “Governor Abbott, don’t let a Soros-owned Austin liberal DA destroy our justice system in Texas. You need to PARDON Daniel Perry IMMEDIATELY!” Jackson was referring to George Soros, a billionaire philanthropist and Democratic supporter. Invoking Soros’ name is considered an anti-Semitic trope.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two men in 2020 in a Black Lives Matter in Kenosha, Wis., and was later acquitted, tweeted that Perry’s conviction was “very disappointing,” and that it was an “unfair conviction. Please step in and free Daniel Perry.”
And then there’s Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who had considered hiring Rittenhouse as an aide but did not. Gaetz, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. has hired Derrick Miller as a legislative assistant covering military policy. Miller, a former U.S. Army National Guard sergeant, spent eight years in prison for murdering an Afghan civilian on Sept. 26, 2010.
In July 2011, the 27-year-old Maryland soldier was sentenced to life in prison with possible parole for the murder. Miller was assigned to a Connecticut National Guard unit and attached to the 101st Airborne Division at the time of the shooting in Eastern Afghanistan.
Miller’s lawyer claimed that a man identified as Atta Mohammed, 27, approached a defensive perimeter around a mortar unit when Miller stopped to question him. Miller’s lawyer argued that Miller acted in self-defense when shot Mohammed as he allegedly had tried to grab the soldier’s weapon.
Charles Miller, a witness and Guardsman from Maryland, testified that he heard Miller threaten to kill Mohammed if he did not tell the truth; and then sat on top of Mohammed, who was lying prone, before shooting him in the head and killing him. According to the prosecutor, Miller then told other guardsmen, “I shot him. He was a liar.”
Mohammed’s body was left in a latrine, in violation of military standards.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Miller guilty.
“We proudly stand with our Military Legislative Assistant Derrick Miller,” said Joel Valdez, a spokesperson for Gaetz. “He was wrongfully convicted and served our country with honor.”
Valdez claimed that for nearly a decade, “members of Congress, multiple advocacy groups, and over 16,000 individuals on a petition have all signaled their support for clearing his name and recognizing him as innocent of charges imposed by a weaponized military injustice system under President Obama.”
In 2017, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, asked then-president Trump to review the case.
“As you know, our troops face extremely difficult decisions while serving in the heat of battle,” Babin wrote.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, testified in Miller’s defense. After a 2018 clemency hearings, the Army reduced Miller’s sentence to 20 years, making him eligible for parole. He was released on May 20, 2019.
Miller previously served as a military adviser for Gohmert from July 2019 to September of last year. Miller also was executive director of the Congressional Justice for Warriors Caucus, which describes itself as “dedicated to educating members of Congress about combat-related incidents where U.S. service members who are fighting for our freedoms have been unjustly incarcerated under the [Uniform Code of Military Justice].” The all-Republican caucus includes right wingers, Gohmert, Gaetz, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Okla., Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C. and Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas.
Gaetz also has intervened on behalf of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was charged with war crimes in relation to the killing of an Iraqi prisoner of war in Mosul in 2017. Gallagher was charged with stabbing a 17-year-old ISIS prisoner to death, posing with his corpse, and sending the photo to friends. He was convicted in 2019 of posing for the photograph but acquitted of the other charges after a member of Gallagher’s team was granted immunity as a witness and testified that he and not Gallagher had killed the prisoner. The witness, medic Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, testified that although Gallagher did stab the ISIS fighter, he did not actually kill him. Scott testified that he himself had killed the wounded prisoner by covering his breathing tube and asphyxiating him.
Part of Gallagher’s sentence included removing his revered Trident Pin, awarded to SEALs. On Nov. 21, 2019, then-president trump tweeted, “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”
Gallagher was one of three military personnel accused or convicted of war crimes on whose behalf trump had intervened to pardon or promote. Trump told a rally audience days after his intervention, “I stuck up for three great warriors against the deep state.”
“We completely comprehend and appreciate the necessity for good order and discipline within our Armed Forces,” Gaetz wrote. “However, our experience has witnessed a verifiable bias against the warfighter that is completely political in nature by the United States Navy’s Justice system.”
Two other Florida lawmakers, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., are standing up for one man involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Bilirakis has written a letter of leniency on behalf of Jeremy Michael Brown, a Tampa man involved in the Jan. 6 riot who is facing sentencing over federal charges of illegally possessing weapons, grenades and a classified document. Brown, a former U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant, is a self-professed member of the extremist Oath Keepers group.
Videos and images from Jan. 6 showed Brown behind the barriers law enforcement had set up at the Capitol, dressed in military gear, including a helmet, body armor, boots and a tactical vest. He also had a radio, surgical trauma shears and zip ties and ignored verbal orders to get back, complying only when pushed with police batons. Brown has claimed that he is being targeted in a shadowy government plot because he refused to become a confidential informant in the run-up to Jan. 6. Brown also claimed that he was working volunteer security at the protest.
Federal agents investigating the riots searched Brown’s Hillsborough County property and allegedly found the illegal items. In December, he was convicted of six of 10 charges.
An online fundraiser for his defense has raised more than $100,000.
Brown is being held in a maximum security section of a Florida jail. On the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 uprising, Brown announced his candidacy for Florida state House of Representatives. A Republican, Brown has collected enough signatures to qualify as a candidate in the overwhelmingly Democratic District 62. He is the only Republican candidate and will run against the winner of the August Democratic primary.
Bilirakis wrote Middle District of Florida Judge Susan Bucklew, that Brown, should get less than the nine years he’s facing.
“He has lived an exemplary life with no incidents of violence and no criminal history,” Bilirakis wrote.
The government has argued that Brown should not receive sentencing leniency.
“The Defendant’s course of conduct over the past decade … shows a complete lack of respect for the law, and merits a substantial term of imprisonment,” prosecutors wrote in a March 24 filing.
Republican officials in Texas and Florida are supporting, politically-charged convicted murderers but they aren’t nearly as empathetic to killers who do not have political constituencies.
Both states are in the forefront of capital punishment.
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty reports that Texas has executed 583 people since 1982. Of these, 279 occurred during the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Perry (2001–2014), more than any other governor in U.S. history. The state executed five people in 2022 and another five this year. Texas has one more execution scheduled for April 26.
Four of the five men executed this year were Black or Hispanic.
Executions in Texas peaked in 2000, when 40 people were put to death. Texas has the third-largest death row population in the nation (184), after California (668) and Florida (299). On March 13, 2019, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions.
In Florida, there have been 196 executions from 1924 until May 1964. . There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976. In 1972, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty and Florida has carried out 100 executions since it was reinstated in 1976.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is supporting a new bill to allow the death penalty for people who rape children. Such punishment has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.