Daniel Perry murder trial to continue Monday
AUSTIN, Texas - The trial continues for Army Sgt. Daniel Perry for the murder of Black Lives Matter protestor Garrett Foster.
The trial began with Perry maintaining his plea of not guilty of the incident on July 25, 2020.
"How do you plea guilty or not guilty? Not guilty your honor," says Daniel Perry.
The state is saying Perry intentionally shot Foster, but Perry is saying it was self-defense.
"He believed he had no choice regrettable, but he had no choice, he was in danger of being killed, two tenths of a second he had no choice but to use his gun to defend himself and that's why he carried the gun in his Uber," says the defense.
COVERAGE OF DANIEL PERRY MURDER TRIAL:
- Daniel Perry murder trial: Police body cam footage shown to jury
- Jurors hear witness testimony in Daniel Perry murder trial
- Daniel Perry murder trial: Jury hears from victim's wife, friend who attended protest
- Opening statements begin in murder trial of Sgt. Daniel Perry
Some of the protestors did admit to kicking and yelling at Perry and his car.
Witnesses demonstrated on the stand how Foster was holding the gun. "Across his chest– had it slinged across the chest-downward," says Whitney Mitchell.
"When he came up to the car it was about, I'm not talking about when he came up to the car, im talking about when he was 50–100 feet away from the car, okay well pretty much at all times," says Jeremy Lett.
911 calls and police body cam footage was played in the courtroom.
"I thought he was gonna kill me he was visibly distraught, shaking, nervousness in his voice, it was obvious he was involved in a traumatic incident," says the defense.
Perry shot towards Foster, who, according to the autopsy, had a total of four gunshot wounds. Based on the location of the wounds, the medical examiner said it was most likely Foster was leaning towards the left to see in the car.
This trial is set to continue Monday morning at 9:15 am.