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Cop indicted, linked to 'manufactured' evidence, but Texas board won't back pardon for George Floyd [1]

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Date: 2022-09-20

x #BREAKING The Texas parole board just DENIED a posthumous pardon for George Floyd - 11 months after recommending a pardon & then rescinding it



This was for a Houston drug case involving a cop now accused of fabricating informants



They told Floyd's lawyer he can reapply in 2 yrs pic.twitter.com/tNSqp4M9wV — Keri Blakinger (@keribla) September 15, 2022

Allison Mathis, a lawyer with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office, wrote in the family’s initial application last April that Gerald Goines, the officer who arrested Floyd, “manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against innocent defendants.”

x "He was a dad, a brother, and a son... He was a good man who is missed dearly by friends and family but this pardon is being sought because it is just and right to clear a conviction that is not supported by evidence." pic.twitter.com/vLAJpFXUxy — Keri Blakinger (@keribla) April 26, 2021

The officer arrested Floyd on Feb. 5, 2004, and alleged that Floyd gave crack cocaine to a "second suspect" who had agreed to sell it to Goines, who was working undercover. Goines later noted in his report that the “second suspect” was never arrested.

Goines was indicted last June on organized crime charges related to a deadly police raid, and at the time of his indictment, he was already facing murder charges related to the shooting deaths of two other people during the raid, KHOU reported.

x In case anyone is wondering, the reason I'm not tweeting the full 253-page application is that it has a lot of personal information, including contact information for supporters. — Keri Blakinger (@keribla) April 26, 2021

Even knowing the alleged corruption Goines was linked to, the public defender seeking Floyd's pardon declined to say she was optimistic when journalist Keri Blakinger asked last April.

"I'm not sure whether optimism or pessimism is the right framework for how I feel about this," she said. "As a criminal defense attorney, I see people in authority do the wrong thing a lot of the time—judges who forget the humanity of defendants, prosecutors who are coercive and cruel, and police officers who abuse their position and hurt people, rather than protect them," Blakinger said. "Those acts tend to overshadow the good things that people in authority do a lot of the time. George Floyd had a lot of people in authority do bad things to him. … I guess I'm hopeful that the people who have control over whether or not this gets granted will use this as an opportunity to do a good thing."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced last December that the parole board withdrew its recommendation concerning Floyd.

"The Board of Pardons and Paroles has withdrawn 25 clemency recommendations that contained procedural errors and lack of compliance with Board rules," Renae Eze, the governor’s press secretary, said. "Among the recommendations withdrawn was one concerning George Floyd. The Board will review and resolve procedural errors and issues related to any pending applications in compliance with their rules.”

“As a result of the Board's withdrawal of the recommendation concerning George Floyd, Governor Abbott did not have the opportunity to consider it. Governor Abbott will review all recommendations that the Board submits for consideration."

Ben Crump, George Floyd's family attorney, called the parole board's decision a "DISGRACE and an insult to his memory."

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/20/2124007/-Cop-indicted-linked-to-manufactured-evidence-but-Texas-board-won-t-back-pardon-for-George-Floyd

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