The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole reversed its decision to grant George Floyd a posthumous pardon for a drug conviction in 2004, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
The turnaround on Wednesday comes nearly a year after the board unanimously voted to recommend pardon and more than two years after Floyd was killed by a former Minneapolis officer.
The board did not cite a reason for its decision in the letter, which was sent Thursday to the Harris County public defender who works on behalf of Floyd’s surviving family members.
“After a thorough and careful review of the application and other information filed with the application, a majority of the Board has decided not to recommend a Full Pardon and/or Pardon of Innocence,” the letter states.
Floyd’s family filed for a pardon on his behalf in April 2021. The family can reapply in two years, according to the letter.
In the filing, Allison Mathis, attorney for the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, said the request was filed because the officer who arrested him in the Floyd drug case, Gerald Goines, “manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against defendants.” innocent”.
A lawyer from Goines told the CNN at the time: “We defend the original case. We certainly sympathize with Mr. Floyd, but that doesn’t change the fact that his former conviction was legitimate.”
Goines arrested Floyd on February 5, 2004, alleging at the time that Floyd possessed crack cocaine and supplied the drugs to an unidentified “second suspect” who agreed to sell the drugs to Goines undercover. The “second suspect” was not arrested, Goines noted in his offense report, in an “attempt to promote drug trafficking.” [sic] in this area”.
Goines, a 35-year veteran of law enforcement, was later indicted and pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges of murder and tampering with a government record. His case remains pending.
Floyd, who is black, died in 2020 after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes during an arrest.
The murder has catalyzed global and national protests condemning social injustice, particularly with regard to the excessive force police use against people of color. Chauvin was convicted of multiple murder charges.
Last December, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office announced that the parole board had withdrawn 25 leniency recommendations, including Floyd’s, citing “errors of procedure and lack of compliance with board rules.”
Council members are appointed by the state governor, and the most recent member was appointed about two weeks ago, according to the council’s website.
THE CNN contacted Abbott’s office and the state parole and parole board for further comment.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
