Texas board withdraws pardon recommendation for George Floyd

A Texas board that had unanimously supported a posthumous pardon for George Floyd over a 2004 drug arrest in Houston backpedaled in an announcement Thursday saying procedural errors were found in their recommendation months after leaving the decision to Republican Gov Greg Abbott The unusual reversal was announced by Abbotts office two days before Christmas around the time he typically doles out his annual pardonsThe withdrawn endorsement was met with outrage from a public defender who submitted the pardon application for Floyd who spent much of his life in Houston before his death in 2020 under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer Allison Mathis an attorney in Houston accused the twoterm governor of playing politics ahead of Texas March GOP primary elections as he faces challengers from the far rightFloyds name was withdrawn along with two dozen other clemency recommendations that had been submitted by the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles In a letter dated December 16 but not released publicly until now the board told Abbott that it had identified unexplained departures from its process of issuing pardons and needed to reconsider more than a third of the 67 clemency recommendations it sent to Abbott this year including the one for FloydIn October the board had unanimously recommended that Floyd become just the second person in Texas since 2010 to receive a posthumous pardon from the governor As a result of the Boards withdrawal of the recommendation concerning George Floyd Governor Abbott did not have the opportunity to consider it Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said in a statementMathis called the lastminute reversal a ridiculous farce She said the board mdash which is stocked with Abbott appointees mdash did not make her aware of any issues prior to the announcement from the governors office It really strains credibility for them to say now that its out of compliance after the board has already voted on it she saidFloyd grew up and was laid to rest in Houston In June former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 12 years in prison for Floyds murder which led to a national reckoning in the US over race and policing Pardons restore the rights of the convicted and forgive them in the eyes of the law But in Floyds case his family and supporters said a posthumous pardon in Texas would show a commitment to accountabilityIn February 2004 Floyd was arrested in Houston for selling USD 10 worth of crack in a police sting and later pleaded guilty to a drug charge and served 10 months in prison But the global spotlight on the death of Floyd in police custody 16 years later is not why prosecutors revisited his Houston case Instead it was prompted by a deadly Houston drug raid in 2019 that involved the same officer who arrested FloydProsecutors say that officer Gerald Goines lied to obtain the search warrant for the raid that killed a husband and wife Goines who is no longer on the Houston force and faces murder charges has denied wrongdoing More than 160 drug convictions tied to him over the years have since been dismissed by prosecutors due to concerns about his caseworkDavid Gutierrez chairman of Texas parole board said in the letter to Abbott that he ordered a review after the board had recommended more clemency recommendations this year than at any point in two decades He did not specify how Floyds recommendation skirted the usual procedures instead only broadly pointing to several sets of rules that Gutierrez said the board did not follow A number listed for Gutierrez was not answered ThursdayFor months Abbott gave no indication whether he would grant the pardon in the months since the parole board put the recommendation on his desk The prolonged silence raised questions by Mathis and others over whether political calculations were at play in Abbotts decision His office has not respond to those chargesAbbott attended Floyds memorial service last year in Houston where he met with the family and floated the idea of a George Floyd Act that would take aim at police brutality But when the Texas Legislature convened months later Abbott was silent over policing reforms pushed by Democrats and made police funding a priorityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever