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Army sergeant's attempt to get murder charge dropped in Austin protest shooting denied

Sgt. Daniel Perry has been indicted in the fatal shooting of Austin protester Garrett Foster.

AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis County judge says he will not dismiss a murder charge against the Army sergeant who shot and killed Austin protester Garrett Foster last year.

Sgt. Daniel Perry's attorneys asked the case be thrown out, based on statements from the lead Austin Police Department investigator. That detective said prosecutors coerced his grand jury testimony and instructed him to omit information favorable to Perry.

Judge Cliff Brown said he found no evidence detective David Fugitt's grand jury testimony was coerced by prosecutors and will not have a hearing on the matter.

Perry has said the shooting was self-defense and that Foster raised a military-style weapon at him.

"The State made a thorough and balanced presentation ... in keeping with its obligations under state law," prosecutors said earlier this summer. "The defendant's assertions about the state's presentation of evidence are based on uninformed assumptions."

Previous reporting states that APD homicide detective Fugitt expressed frustration when he was asked by prosecutors to edit a PowerPoint presentation to the grand jury that he thought included important evidence. 

The shooting took place in July 2020 on Congress Avenue as many protestors took to the streets in the months that proceeded the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Perry was reportedly working as a rideshare driver at the time of the incident when he drove through the protest.

About a month later, Sgt. Perry was indicted on charges of murder, deadly conduct and aggravated assault.

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