REUTERS/Adrees Latif TPX
- The Texas State Board of Pardons on Monday voted unanimously to recommend a posthumous pardon for George Floyd.
- Floyd was arrested by a disgraced former Houston police officer on drug charges in 2004.
- The pardon will go before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for final approval.
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George Floyd could be posthumously pardoned for a 2004 drug conviction after a Texas panel voted unanimously Monday to recommend clemency.
The board's request will have to go before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for approval.
Floyd's family submitted a pardon application to the Texas State Board of Pardons in April through Allison Mathis of the Harris County Public Defender's Office, according to CNN. In the request, Mathis alleged that Floyd's arresting officer "manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against innocent defendants."
Former Houston police officer Gerald Goines arrested Floyd in February 2004 and alleged that he was in possession of crack cocaine. Goines said in his arrest report that Floyd provided drugs to a second person who then agreed to sell the drugs to Goines, who was undercover, according to CNN.
Floyd pleaded guilty to delivery of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 10 months in jail, while the second person was never arrested. Goines said in his police report that he let the other person go in an "attempt to further the narcotic trafficing" in the area, CNN reported.
An attorney for Goines, Nicole DeBorde, told CNN that the former officer stands by the original case and said Floyd's 2004 conviction was "legitimate."
Goines is currently facing two charges of felony murder and tampering with a government record, Harris County Dstrict Attorney Kim Ogg told CNN. The charges stem from an incident in which Ogg said Goines obtained a no-knock warrant under false pretenses, and led a police raid in Houston that left two people dead and five police officers injured. Deborge told CNN that Goines pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Floyd died in May 2020 after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes, asphyxiating him during an arrest. Chauvin was convicted of murder in April and sentenced to over 22 years in prison.
"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 for a 2004 conviction involving former Houston Police Department Officer Gerald Goines," Ogg said in a statement.
Ogg urged Abbott to follow the board's recommendation for clemency. Abbott's office did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.