Gov. Greg Abbott denies posthumous clemency to George Floyd for 2004 drug arrest

Photo: Brandon Bell / Getty Images

HOUSTON – During the time when he normally hands out his annual pardons, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott , denied a posthumous pardon for George Floyd for an arrest for drugs at 2004 in Houston.

A Texas board that had unanimously supported a pardon for Floyd reversed its decision by claiming they found “procedural errors” in their recommendation months later. to leave the decision to the Republican governor.

The final decision was announced by Abbott’s office two days before Christmas, the period in which it normally distributes its annual pardons.

The withdrawn endorsement was greeted with outrage by a public defender who petitioned for clemency for Floyd, who spent much of his life in Houston prior to his death in 2020 under the knees of a white Minneapolis police officer.

Allison Mathis, a Houston attorney, accused the governor of playing politics ahead of Texas’ Republican primary elections in March, while facing rivals from the far right.

Floyd’s name was withdrawn along with two dozen other clemency recommendations submitted by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

In a letter dated 16 December, but only publicly disclosed so far, the board told Abbott that it had identified “unexplained deviations” from its pardon process and needed to reconsider more than a third of the 67 clemency recommendations he sent to Abbott, including Floyd’s.

In October, the board had unanimously recommended that Floyd become the second person in Texas since 2010 to receive a posthumous pardon from the governor.

In February of 2004, Floyd was arrested in Houston for selling crack worth $ 10 in a police operation, then pleaded guilty of a drug charge and served 10 months in prison.

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