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On Thursday, September 15, 2022, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles reversed its original decision to grant a posthumous pardon to George Floyd regarding his 2004 charges, thereby retracting the decision taken unanimously by them in 2021.
The word 'posthumous' refers to any event that takes place following the death of the person who initiated it. A posthumous pardon, therefore, refers to the pardoning of a crime that was committed in life, after the death of the accused.
In early 2021, George Floyd's lawyer applied for a posthumous pardon for the 2004 drug charges against her client. Last year, the Texas board presented a unanimous recommendation to Governor Greg Abbott to posthumously pardon a minor drug conviction against George Floyd in Houston.
11 months later, the board has now decided to rescind the recommendation.
Understanding the meaning of a posthumous pardon
Floris Tomasini, author of Remembering and Disremembering the Dead: Posthumous Punishment, Harm and Redemption over Time, refers to posthumous pardon as a "symbolic redemption" from the "unintended consequences" of posthumous punishment. Placing the concept of posthumous pardons in a historical and military context, Tomasini writes:
"Posthumous pardoning is a form of symbolic redemption; a way of redeeming a dishonour that is carried over from one generation to another. Posthumous pardoning has an important role in forgiveness and reconciliation. It forgives historical actors, as well as those emotionally affected by its decisions."
Citing the example of the army's 'shot at dawn policy,' Tomasini said that death sentences awarded to convicted soldiers would serve as dishonorable to fighting soldiers and the living relatives of the convicted soldiers who had to carry the historic shame of the original dishonor.
A posthumous pardon frees people from the burden of this dishonor.
In recent years, the US has seen a number of posthumous pardons. For instance, seven Black men were granted posthumous pardons by Virginia in 2021 for the 1949 charges against them that led to their execution. Governor Ralph Northam believed that he was "righting wrongs." He said:
"...They serve as recognition from the Commonwealth that these men were tried without adequate due process and received a racially biased death sentence not similarly applied to white defendant."
While George Floyd's posthumous pardon request was reversed, Governor Abbott granted pardons and restoration of civil rights to eight Texan citizens.
What was George Floyd convicted of in 2004?
George Floyd became the face of the Black Lives Matter movement after he was killed by a former Minneapolis officer in 2020.
In 2004, Floyd was arrested by Houston police officer Gerald Goines for allegedly having been in possession of less than half a gram of crack cocaine. Goines claimed at the time that Floyd had given the drugs to someone who remained unnamed. Floyd pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in state jail.
Since then, however, officer Goines has been accused of repeatedly lying or fabricating confidential informants to elevate his position against defendants.
On September 15, the decision regarding George Floyd's case was made public by the governor’s office, along with reversals regarding 24 other clemency suggestions. The sudden reversals have been chalked up to "procedural errors and a lack of compliance with board rules."
Allison Mathis, a Houston public defender who put in the request for Floyd's pardon, told The Texas Tribune that she was furious with the decision because it felt unfair. According to her, the pardon request had previously been through a compliance review and not a single issue was raised by any of the seven appointed board members back then.
A letter sent to Mathis suggests that the board will be open to reviewing the case again in the “near future". The letter did not specify a reason for the board's decision, but mentioned that Floyd's family could reapply for a posthumous pardon in two years.
