AUSTIN, Texas — Despite the fact that a 12-person jury heard several days' worth of evidence and deliberated for two days before finding U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry guilty of murdering Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster in 2020, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday tweeted that he is "working swiftly" to pardon Perry. 

Perry was found guilty in an Austin courtroom on Friday. He's awaiting sentencing and faces life in prison. 

Abbott doesn't have the power to directly grant Perry a pardon. Instead, he said he has made a request to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to review Perry's case and decide whether he should be granted a pardon.

According to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the governor is authorized to grant clemency if the board recommends it, but the governor can also make a request for that recommendation to be issued.

"The Governor has the authority to grant clemency upon the written recommendation of a majority of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board). Clemency includes full pardons after conviction or successful completion of a term of deferred adjudication community supervision, conditional pardons, pardons based on innocence, commutations of sentence, and reprieves. In capital cases, clemency includes a commutation of sentence to life in prison and a reprieve of execution," a statement from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles' website reads.

Perry was working for Uber when he came upon a large demonstration in downtown Austin in July 2020. Protesters were pounding on his car, and Perry’s attorneys claimed that Garrett Foster, 28, pointed a weapon at him. Perry fatally shot Foster. He died on July 25, 2020.

Perry’s attorneys said he had no choice but to shoot Foster as he approached Perry’s car with an AK-47 rifle. However, witnesses testified that Foster never raised his firearm at Perry.

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Perry was stationed at Fort Hood, about 70 miles north of Austin. The trial came after attempts from Perry’s team to throw out the case over the past year.

When Foster was killed, demonstrators in Austin and beyond had been marching in the streets for weeks following the police killing of George Floyd. Floyd died May 25, 2020, after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.