Parole Board Rejects Effort to Clear George Floyd's Name
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has rejected a posthumous pardon for George Floyd in connection with a 2004 drug conviction.
“The members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board) have reconsidered their initial decision concerning your client’s application for a Full Pardon and/or Pardon for Innocence,” the board wrote in a letter posted to Twitter by the Marshall Project.
The letter said the decision was reached on Wednesday. It said that another application on Floyd’s behalf could be filed in two years.
Floyd, who died in 2020 in the custody of Minneapolis police, had been arrested in 2004 in Houston for selling crack cocaine and eventually served 10 months in prison for the crime, according to The Hill.
#BREAKING The Texas parole board just DENIED a posthumous pardon for George Floyd – 11 months after recommending a pardon & then rescinding it
This was for a Houston drug case involving a cop now accused of fabricating informants
They told Floyd’s lawyer he can reapply in 2 yrs pic.twitter.com/tNSqp4M9wV
— Keri Blakinger (@keribla) September 15, 2022
Allison Mathis, the attorney who applied for Floyd’s pardon, lashed out at the decision.
“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,” she said in a statement to the Texas Tribune.
“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 said.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rescinded its recommendation for a pardon two months after the recommendation, according to the Texas Tribune.
That decision was announced in October by the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The Board will review and resolve procedural errors and issues related to any pending applications in compliance with their rules,” Abbott’s press secretary Renae Eze said in a statement at the time.
“As a result of the Board’s withdrawal of the recommendation concerning George Floyd, Governor Abbott did not have the opportunity to consider it. Governor Abbott will review all recommendations that the Board submits for consideration,” the statement said.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has supported a pardon for Floyd.
District Attorney Kim Ogg said Thursday the office has not changed its position, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“We supported George Floyd’s pardon because we do not have confidence in the integrity of his conviction,” Ogg said in a statement. “We support clemency because it is appropriate.”
Floyd’s 2004 arrest was among several arrests of former police officer Gerald Goines that have been called into question, according to Fox News.
Goines is facing two felony murder charges connected to a drug raid in 2019, according to Fox. The raid triggered a review of arrests Goines made over the years. As a result, prosecutors have dismissed about 150 drug cases linked to Goines.
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