Abuse victims wonder when Abbott will keep his promise to them

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced last spring that he would pardon former Army Sergeant Daniel Perry, who had just been convicted of murdering an armed Black Lives Matter protester, Jeana Lungwitz was shocked. But she also felt a glimmer of hope. Abbott said he pardoned Perry because he believed he had acted in self-defense. And Lungwitz, who directs the domestic violence clinic at the University of Texas at Austin, was representing a woman seeking a pardon for the same reason: she said she’d been acting in self-defense when she killed her abusive husband. “If Perry could get pardoned, surely she will,” said Lungwitz, who asked the Chronicle not to name her client in order to protect her privacy.

But last month, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, denied the woman’s application. She is now out of prison after serving 15 years for murder, but with the conviction on her record, she has been unable to get a job or find an apartment in her hometown of Fort Worth. “It’s just a blatant slap in the face,” said Dana Smith, a close friend of Lungwitz’s client. “The prisons are full of women that are victims of domestic violence and were in self-defense mode somehow. Their lives are ruined.” Four years ago, the Republican governor announced a specialized pardon application for survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence, many of whom have criminal convictions as a result of what they endured. At the time, he said he wanted to provide a path to “redemption and restoration” for such survivors. But that hasn’t happened for the vast majority of applicants, who must provide exhaustive detail of their previous criminal record and proof that it is linked to their abuse.