New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with 13 other state attorneys general, asked the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday to open a civil rights investigation following the pardon of Daniel Perry by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott issued a full pardon May 16 to Perry, a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting Garrett Foster during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. Prosecutors said Perry, who is white, could have avoided a confrontation with Foster, who was also white, by driving away but instead chose to confront the crowd of protesters.
Both men were legally armed. Perry had been in state prison on a 25-year sentence since his conviction in 2023.
"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, following a recommendation by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
"I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation."
Now James and her 13 Democrat attorneys general are calling on President Joe Biden's Justice Department to investigate the Republican Texas governor.
"The facts of this case were egregious, and so too is the reality that a state would so blatantly condone hateful, murderous conduct," James wrote in a statement.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, James and the other AGs requested an investigation to determine if Perry violated criminal law and if "stand your ground” laws encourage vigilantes.
"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," the letter read.
"We urge the department to open an investigation into whether Mr. Perry violated federal criminal law, including specifically several federal criminal civil rights laws. We note that whether or not Texas law gives Mr. Perry a defense to state prosecution for his actions here, Texas law does not prevent a federal prosecution for Mr. Perry's act of killing someone for racial reasons in order to prevent him from exercising constitutional rights."
James was joined in her letter by the state attorneys general from Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
There are 23 Democrat AGs and 27 Republican AGs in the U.S., so James did not have full support of her party's top state prosecutors.