DALLAS — Whitney Mitchell broke down in sobs as a jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering her fiancé, Garrett Foster.
“It was bittersweet for me,” she said. “It brought back so much and having to relive all of this has been extremely, extremely, tough.”
The couple met when they were 17. Foster was at Plano East High School and Mitchell was in Richardson.
“He was the love of my life,” Mitchell said. “I thought we were going to grow old together.”
At 19, though, she went into septic shock after a urinary tract infection and had all four limbs amputated. Foster left the U.S. Air Force, where he’d been working B-52 bombers in North Dakota, to stay by Mitchell and care for her as she became a designer.
“It’s left a huge hole in my life not having him here,” Mitchell said. “He took care of me like wholly and completely.”
For weeks in 2020, the couple marched in Austin protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
“With us being together, he saw me go through so many things and experience so many things,” Mitchell said.
On July 25, Perry, an army ranger and Uber driver, honked at protesters, ran a red light and drove into the crowd. Foster approached the car with the AK-47 he’d been legally carrying in the protest, and Perry shot him five times with a .357 revolver, killing 28-year-old Foster.
“I jumped out of my chair and the car sped off and I heard more shots. I was trying to get to Garrett,” Mitchell said. “I just watched him die in front of me.”
Perry’s attorneys claimed self-defense.
Prosecutors argued he was the aggressor and showed messages showed he’d written including one saying, “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work”. Prosecutors also played an interview with police where Perry said he didn’t want to give Foster a chance to aim at him.
“He was carrying to protect us and there was a lot going on at those protests,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t feel safe, so Garrett started carrying to protect us.”
Conservative figures including Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of intentional homicide for killing two protestors in Wisconsin, called for Perry to be pardoned. Tucker Carlson, a conservative Fox News host, also pushed for a pardon, and, a day later, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’d issue a pardon as soon as the request hits his desk.
Abbott didn’t attend the trial, and it was not broadcast live.
“I don’t know how you can justify doing any of this. It just feels like a big political stunt,” Mitchell said. “It’s gross. Honestly, it’s gross.”
Legal experts call the move unprecedented. Perry hasn’t been sentenced yet, though he faces between five years and life in prison. His attorney wants a new trial, claiming some evidence related to Foster previously blocking roads during protests wasn’t shared.
Abbott can’t pardon Perry until the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza has asked to present them with the case evidence.
“We look forward to working with them to make sure they have all of the facts and evidence they need,” Garza said.
“What he’s doing is impacting Garrett’s family and me as well,” Mitchell said of Abbott. “There are people who have not had any chance to grieve.”
Bittersweet isn’t the word Mitchell uses now.
“It’s disgusting and it’s really horrifying,” she said. “I can’t understand it.”