Texas board rejects posthumous pardon for George Floyd

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The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has unanimously denied a posthumous pardon of George Floyd for a minor 2004 drug conviction in Houston. The resolution comes 11 months after the company initially advisable a pardon earlier than reversing course and rescinding that recommendation, citing a procedural error.

In a letter Thursday, the board didn’t clarify its reasoning for rejecting the requested pardon. The letter doesn’t embody Floyd’s identify, however his lawyer, Allison Mathis, confirmed to The Texas Tribune that his software was the one pardon she utilized for. The letter stated Mathis can reapply for the posthumous pardon in two years.

“This was a chance for Texas to do a small, good thing: to take an apolitical stance that no matter who a person is, their rights need to be respected and an accurate record of their life is important. Last year the board unanimously recommended that Mr. Floyd be granted a pardon, acknowledging that what happened to him was wrong. I have given no other facts or evidence for the board to consider and it is unclear to me what happened to completely reverse their decision,” Mathis stated in an announcement to the Tribune.

The Marshall Project first reported the board’s resolution.

Floyd’s 2020 homicide by the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis set off a wave of protests in opposition to police violence that disproportionally impacts individuals of coloration.

Floyd was arrested by embattled former Houston police officer Gerald Goines in 2004 after he was discovered to have lower than half a gram of crack cocaine. Goines stated on the time that Floyd had given the medicine to an unnamed individual. Floyd in the end pleaded responsible and acquired a 10-month sentence in state jail. But Goines has since been accused of repeatedly mendacity or making up confidential informants to bolster his phrase in opposition to defendants, which was revealed after a botched, lethal raid in 2019 led to homicide prices in opposition to the officer.

After the board steered Gov. Greg Abbott pardon Floyd last October, the governor largely remained silent on whether or not he would take the step to problem the second posthumous pardon in Texas historical past. Roughly two months after making the advice, the board modified its unique suggestion, explaining the unique resolution lacked compliance with board guidelines.

In impact, the board enabled Abbott to keep away from the choice to pardon Floyd, which doubtless would have had political fallout for the Republican governor who touted supporting law enforcement as he backed GOP lawmakers who had been up for election in 2020. Abbott is at the moment looking for a 3rd time period and faces Democrat Beto O’Rourke in November.

Abbott’s workplace didn’t return a request for remark Thursday night.

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