The Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles approved a request for granting George
Floyd posthumous pardon in a 2004 drug arrest on Monday.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg
conveyed the information on her office’s official website.

The pardon was recommended by the Texas board on a 7-0
vote. The proposal will be forwarded to Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, who will
make the ultimate decision, reported newspaper Washington Post.

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Officer Gerald
Goines arrested George Floyd in February 2004 and accused him of selling
$10 worth of crack in a police operation. Floyd eventually pled guilty to a
drug offence and received a ten-month term in state prison,  the Associated Press described. 

Following a
fatal 2019 drug raid that he conducted that resulted in the deaths of Dennis
Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, Goines’ casework has been scrutinised.
Goines, who is no longer a member of the Houston police department. He is
accused of two counts of felony murder as well as additional offences in state
and federal court in connection with the raid.

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Prosecutors
claim that Goines, 57, lied to get a search warrant for the couple’s house.

Prosecutors have
now dismissed more than 160 drug convictions linked to Goines. A dozen current
and former officers, including Goines, was indicted as part of the narcotics
division that carried out the drug raid.

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“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,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg mentioned in her statement.

Floyd, a black
man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, sparking
global protests against racial injustice. Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed
Floyd, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in jail in June.