George Floyd has been recommended for a full posthumous pardon for a 2004 drug conviction by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
On Monday, October 4, the board members reached a vote of 7-0 to put forward the recommendation to Texas governor Greg Abbott that Floyd is posthumously pardoned, Reuters has reported.
George Floyd hit headlines around the world when the 46-year-old Black man was killed due to a fatal arrest at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020. Footage of the arrest caused outrage, as it showed a white officer by the name of Derek Chauvin holding his knee on Floyd's neck for approximately nine minutes. During the arrest, Floyd repeatedly told the officers: "I can't breathe."
Floyd's death sparked a number of protests around the US as people called for an end to police brutality of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
The Associated Press reports that Floyd's 2004 conviction is due to an arrest made by a now-indicted ex-Houston police officer as part of a sting operation. Floyd was accused of selling $10 worth of crack cocaine - a charge Floyd later pleased guilty to. He was sentenced to 10 months in state prison.
Per the AP, casework belonging to the arresting officer, Gerald Goines, is currently under scrunity after a drug raid under his command led to the deaths of 59-year-old Dennis Tuttle and 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas back in 2019.
Among other charges, Goines - who is no longer a part of Houston police - is facing two counts of felony murder, with prosecutors also alleging that the 57-year-old ex-cop lied in order to obtain a search warrant.
As of this writing, the AP reports that over 160 drug convictions tied to Goines have been dismissed.
More than 160 drug convictions tied to Goines have since been dismissed by prosecutors, and a dozen current and former officers, including Goines, tied to the narcotics unit that conducted the drug raid have been indicted.
This has led to the call for Floyd's 2004 charge to be pardoned, with Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg saying in a statement on Monday: "We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Monday’s decision by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency."
Reuters states that an application for Floyd's pardon was first submitted back in April by members of Floyd's family, on the grounds that Goines had "manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases".
Allison Mathis, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office who submitted for the pardon on behalf of Floyd's family, said in response to Monday's recommendation that she is hopeful that Abbott will agree to the pardon, adding: "I also hope that he, and the Texas Legislature, will work more stridently toward reforming the integrity of the racist, classist criminal justice system in Texas."
Back in June, Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison after being found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.