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A Texas board on Thursday declined a request that George Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for a 2004 drug arrest made by a now-indicted ex-Houston police officer whose case historical past is beneath scrutiny following a lethal drug raid.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in October 2021 had initially determined to unanimously advocate that Floyd change into simply the second particular person in Texas since 2010 to obtain a posthumous pardon from the governor.
But earlier than Texas Gov. Greg Abbott may make a ultimate determination within the case, the board in December reversed its determination, saying that “procedural errors” had been present in its preliminary recommendation in Floyd’s case and it wanted to rethink greater than a 3rd of a bunch of 67 clemency purposes it had despatched to Abbott.
“After a full and careful review of the application and other information filed with the application, a majority of the Board decided not to recommend a Full Pardon and/or Pardon for Innocence,” the board wrote in a letter it despatched Thursday to Floyd’s lawyer, Allison Mathis, with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office in Houston.
In its letter, the board mentioned one other request for a posthumous pardon for Floyd could possibly be submitted once more in two years. The letter didn’t specify why the board had denied the request.
Mathis and a spokesperson for the paroles board didn’t instantly return emails or calls looking for remark.
Mathis had first submitted the pardon request in April 2021.
Floyd, who was Black, grew up and was laid to relaxation in Houston. In June 2021, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who’s White, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in jail for Floyd’s killing, which led to a nationwide reckoning within the U.S. over race and policing.
Years earlier than his May 2020 killing, Floyd was arrested in Houston in February 2004 by former police officer Gerald Goines for promoting $10 price of crack in a police sting. Floyd later pleaded responsible to a drug cost and was sentenced to 10 months in a state jail.
Goines is now dealing with two counts of felony homicide, in addition to different expenses in each state and federal court docket, for a lethal 2019 drug raid during which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his spouse, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, had been killed.
Prosecutors allege Goines lied to acquire the warrant to go looking the couple’s house by claiming {that a} confidential informant had purchased heroin there. Goines later mentioned there was no informant and that he had purchased the medication himself, they allege. Prosecutors have accused Goines of constructing up informants in different instances as properly.
“We supported George Floyd’s pardon because we do not have confidence in the integrity of his conviction. We support clemency because it is appropriate,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg mentioned Thursday.
About 150 drug convictions tied to Goines have since been dismissed by prosecutors. Earlier this month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered {that a} fifth conviction tied to Goines be overturned.
Goines has maintained his innocence and his lawyer is combating the fees.
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story by The Texas Tribune Source link
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