Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardoned former US Army Sergeant Daniel Perry on Thursday after the Texas Parole Board unanimously recommended a pardon for the ex-soldier who was convicted of killing armed protester Garrett Foster at an Austin Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020.

The case received national attention, as Perry claimed he shot Foster in self-defense after the demonstrator approached his car with an AK-47 he had been openly carrying, but prosecutors argued that Perry ran a red light and drove into the crowd when he was approached and had the opportunity to drive away to avoid the confrontation. Perry was later sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.

Texas’s parole board said it completed “a meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case” before reaching its decision.

The proclamation officially pardoning Perry claimed that “Perry’s car was immediately surrounded by aggressive protestors who rushed to obstruct, strike, pound, smash, and kick his vehicle” and that after Foster approached Perry’s vehicle with his rifle “in the low-ready firing position.” It continued to say, “Perry fired his handgun at [Foster] to eliminate a perceived threat to his safety and called law enforcement less than one minute later to inform them of the incident.”

Abbott, who previously vowed to pardon Perry upon the Parole Board’s recommendation, stated upon announcing Perry’s pardon, “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.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on X that:

Americans across the country have been watching this case in Texas and praying for justice after BLM riots terrorized the nation in 2020. Our right to self-defense is enshrined in the Constitution. Soros-backed prosecutors like Jose Garza do not get to pick and choose the rights we have as Americans, and I am relieved that justice has prevailed.

Stand-your-ground laws have been the subject of nationwide debate, as they allow deadly force to be used against an attacker when necessary without imposing a duty to retreat from the confrontation. Texas’s Stand-your-ground Law allows deadly force to be used to protect an actor against an attacker’s “unlawful deadly force” or to prevent an attacker from committing “aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.” In order for the law to apply, the actor cannot have been committing a serious crime and cannot have provoked the attacker. Stand-your-ground laws entered the national spotlight during the 2012-13 trial of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Black teenager Trayvon Martin and was acquitted due to Florida’s stand-your-ground law.

In response to the pardon, Travis County, Texas District Attorney Jose Garza issued a statement accusing the governor and parole board of putting “politics over justice” in pardoning Perry. As quoted by KTSM, Garza continued:

Their actions are contrary to the law and demonstrate that there are two classes of people in this state where some lives matter and some lives do not. They have sent a message to Garrett Foster’s family, to his partner, and to our community that his life does not matter. They have sent the message that the service of the Travis County community members who served on the grand jury and trial jury does not matter. To the family and friends of Garrett Foster, and to the people of Travis County, we will not stop fighting for justice.

The US experienced a wave of demonstrations and riots in 2020 as Black Lives Matter movement supporters protested the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. 11 people were killed during demonstrations in 2020, with an additional 14 being killed that year as a result of “political unrest.”