Texas governor won’t say if he’ll grant a posthumous pardon to George Floyd

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t saying whether he will posthumously pardon George Floyd for a 2004 drug arrest.

Floyd spent much of his life in Houston before his death last year in Minneapolis led to a reckoning in the U.S. over race and policing.

In October, Texas’ parole board sent Abbott a unanimous recommendation to pardon Floyd. In 2004, Floyd was arrested by a former officer whose police work is no longer trusted by prosecutors.

The Republican governor typically hands out pardons around Christmas, but he has remained silent over what would be only the second posthumous pardon by a Texas governor.

“I just don’t want it to die on his desk,” said Allison Mathis, the public defender who put the request before the parole board, according to the Texas Tribune. “Up or down, one way or another, just give us an answer.”

The Texas Tribune reports that as anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests took place across the country, Abbott was quick to share his support of law enforcement. And while he did sign into law that took some steps to limit police chokeholds and other dangerous maneuvers, he did not issue comment.

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