TEXAS BOARD WITHDRAWS PARDON RECOMMENDATION FOR GEORGE FLOYD DUE TO ‘PROCEDURAL ERRORS’

  

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Thursday rescinded its recommendation for Governor Greg Abbott to posthumously pardon George Floyd.

Abbott’s press secretary, Renae Eze, said the board withdrew the recommendation due to “procedural errors” with the submission.  She added that as a result of the withdrawal, Abbott did not have a chance to consider the recommendation, but the board will resolve any errors or issues, and all recommendations the board submits will be considered.

Floyd grew up in Houston and was killed last year by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison for murder and pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s constitutional rights.

The board unanimously recommended in October that Floyd be pardoned for a 2004 drug conviction in Houston.  The former officer who arrested Floyd, Gerald Goines, faces murder and misconduct charges stemming from a deadly drug raid in Houston in 2019.  Since then, prosecutors have dismissed over 160 drug convictions connected to him.

The board told Abbott’s office that it sent an “unusually high number” of candidates for clemency this year at 67, twice the average amount of recommendations Abbott usually receives in a year.

Floyd would have been only the second person in Texas since 2010 to receive a posthumous pardon from the governor.

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