The Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Texas is supporting an effort to posthumously pardon George Floyd for a conviction that was built on the lone word of a former Houston police officer who now faces felony murder charges and allegations of manufacturing evidence.
The news comes one week after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering Floyd last May.
Allison Mathis, a public defender who works in Harris County, filed the pardon request with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday.
Mathis said the request is not a reflection of the fact that Floyd turned his life around after leaving the criminal justice system for the last time in 2013, but because the arresting officer in one of Floyd’s arrests “manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against innocent defendants,” CNN reported.
Specifically, Mathis is seeking a pardon for a 2004 drug arrest in which the arresting officer, Gerald Goines, accused Floyd of dealing a small amount of crack cocaine. Floyd later plead guilty and served 10 months in jail. – READ MORE
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