Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pardoned a man convicted of fatally shooting a Black Lives

Matter protester in the summer of 2020. Abbott had faced pressure to issue the pardon from

white right- wing conservatives including then

Fox news host Tucker Carlson Stephanie sigh has the story.

Yesterday the Texas State Parole Board whose members are appointed by the governor, unanimously recommended

the release of convicted killer Daniel Perry and the restoration of his firearm rights.

He walked free just hours after the pardon was issued.

Perry was serving a 25-year prison sentence for the murder of Garrett Foster,

an armed white man who was attending a racial justice protest with his black fiance.

In court, Perry argued he shot Foster from his car in self-defense.

Prosecutors argued he sought out the encounter and the jury ultimately agreed.

For more on what led to Perry's pardon, we're joined by KVUE and Austin American statesman

investigative reporter Tony Plahetzky.

Tony, welcome to the news hour.

The board said it did a meticulous review of this case,

but critics say this is politics.

And you had right-wing pundits like Tucker Carlson calling for this for a year.

What was the biggest justification Governor Abbott gave for this pardon?

Well to your point, while the parole and pardons board issued this statement saying that they had done a meticulous

review, what was absent from their statement was any sort of legal rationale in terms of recommending that the governor

issued this pardon. In a separate proclamation, the governor, however, says that Texas has a very strong, one of the strongest in his words self-defense

stand your ground laws here in Texas and so he saw this as upholding that law and that the conviction of Daniel Perry in this case

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