Because of the right to self-defense
Ex-soldier shoots Black Lives Matter demonstrators – Texas governor pardons him
The brutal death of the black man George Floyd triggered the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA in spring 2020. Across the country, people took to the streets – like here in Ohio.
© John Minchillo / Picture Alliance
A man shoots a protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Texas and is sentenced to 25 years in prison. Now Governor Greg Abbott has intervened.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pardoned a former US soldier who was convicted of murdering a participant in a… Black Lives Matter demonstration was sentenced to a long prison sentence. Texas law comprehensively protects everyone’s right to self-defense, which cannot be overridden by a jury or a progressive prosecutor, Republican Abbott said on Thursday. A responsible committee had previously unanimously recommended the pardon.
The brutal death of the black man George Floyd triggered the Black Lives Matter movement in spring 2020. At that time there were nationwide protests against police violence and racism. During one of the demonstrations in Austin, the former soldier shot and killed a 28-year-old participant. He testified in court at the time that he had gotten into a demonstration with his vehicle. He opened fire after the victim pointed a gun at him. Both the shooter and the victim are white.
The lawyers argued that a state law known as “Stand Your Ground” justified the action. In many US states, such laws grant a very broad right to self-defense.
After the murder at the Black Lives Matter demo: the right-wing scene stands behind the condemned
Witness statements painted a different picture. Accordingly, the armed victim is said to have tried to stop the man from driving his car into the crowd. The former soldier was finally sentenced to 25 years in prison last year. According to the Washington Post, subsequently published court documents showed that the shooter regularly spread racist images and threatening content on social media. The case attracted attention in the USA because, among others, the right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson spoke out on his Fox News show at the time and called for the acquittal of the former soldier.
The case is reminiscent of the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. During protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the summer of 2020, the then 17-year-old shot two white men with an assault rifle and injured another person. He invoked his right to self-defense in the trial against him and was acquitted. Rittenhouse is now celebrated as a kind of hero in the right-wing scene and regularly puts himself in the spotlight.