I wish I were writing to you with better news.
But the truth matters—even when it's infuriating.
Sgt. Daniel Perry has been found guilty for defending his own life.
Let me be absolutely clear about what happened.
In July 2020, Daniel Perry was off duty, earning extra money driving for Uber in downtown Austin.
Without warning, he made a legal right turn on red and drove straight into a violent Black Lives Matter mob.
A crowd immediately formed around his vehicle.
He did not drive recklessly.
They swarmed his car.
He couldn't move forward.
He couldn't reverse.
If he did, someone would have been run over.
So he sat there— trapped—while protestors beat his car with rocks, bricks, and sticks.
Daniel didn't panic.
He didn't escalate.
Then a masked man approached his driver's side window.
Daniel believed he might be law enforcement.
He rolled his window down.
That's when he saw it.
The man was open-carrying an AK-47, legal in Texas…but what came next was not.
The rifle was raised.
Pointed.
In that instant, Daniel had a choice:
Do nothing—and die.
Or defend his life.
Daniel was legally licensed to carry a revolver.
He fired once, stopping the threat.
That should have been the end of it.
It wasn't.
The mob erupted.
Someone in that crowd fired four shots at Daniel.
Three bullets struck his car.
That shooter was never charged.
Daniel fled in fear for his life—and then did something criminals don't do.
He called police. He turned himself in.
Because he knew he was innocent.
The lead detective on the case agreed.
He ruled the shooting justified self-defense.
But Austin's radical District Attorney didn't care.
He ignored the evidence and the detective.
Instead, he charged Daniel with felony murder, aggravated assault, and deadly conduct—claiming Daniel committed "deadly misconduct" simply for making that legal right turn on red.
Daniel was indicted on that charge at the same time as the murder charge.
Yet the DA's Office never even tried the deadly conduct charge during the murder trial.
And it gets worse.
The detective prepared a 158-slide presentation proving Daniel's innocence.
The DA forced him to cut it down to 56 slides before the grand jury—stripping out exonerating evidence.
That's not justice, that's a setup!
Now Daniel has been convicted.
A law-abiding citizen.
A man who defended his own life.
A man nearly murdered by a mob.
And he could spend the rest of his life in prison for it.
This fight is not over, but Daniel can't win this alone.
That's why the National Center for Police Defense is standing with him—and why I'm asking you to stand with him too.
Your donation right now helps fund the appeal.
It helps support Daniel and his family.
And it sends a message that
self-defense is not a crime.
Please don't look away.
Please don't stay silent.
Stand with Sgt. Daniel Perry.