Doling out pardons is a holiday tradition for Texas governor Greg Abbott, who close to every Christmas grants them to a handful of ordinary citizens, typically for minor offences committed years or decades ago.
But one name stands out on his desk: George Floyd.
Mr Abbott has not said whether he will posthumously pardon Mr Floyd this year for a 2004 drug arrest in Houston by a former officer whose police work is no longer trusted by prosecutors.
Texas' parole board - stacked with appointees by Mr Abbott - unanimously recommended a pardon for Mr Floyd in October.
Since then, the two-term Republican governor, who is up for re-election in 2022, has given no indication of whether he will grant what would be only the second posthumous pardon in Texas history.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not yet indicated whether he will pardon George Floyd. Source: Getty Images
Mr Floyd spent much of his life in Houston before moving to Minnesota, where his death under the knee of a white police officer last year led to a US reckoning on race and policing.
"It doesn't matter who you think George Floyd was, or what you think he stood for or didn't stand for," said Allison Mathis, a public defender in Houston who submitted Mr Floyd's pardon application.
"What matters is he didn't do this. It's important for the governor to correct the record to show he didn't do this."
A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott did not respond to requests for comment.
Pardons restore the rights of the convicted and forgive them in the eyes of the law. Mr Floyd's family and supporters said a posthumous pardon for him in Texas would show a commitment to accountability.
In February 2004, Mr Floyd was arrested in Houston for selling $10 ($A14) worth of crack in a police sting. He pleaded guilty to a drug charge and served 10 months in prison.
Mr Abbott has several primary challengers from the far right, and his ongoing silence about a potential pardon for Mr Floyd has raised questions by Ms Mathis and others over whether political calculations are at play.
His office has not responded to those charges.
Mr Abbott attended Mr Floyd's memorial service last year in Houston, where he met with the family and floated the idea of a "George Floyd Act" that would take aim at police brutality.
But Mr Abbott never publicly supported such a measure months later when politicians returned to the Capitol, where Republicans instead made police funding a priority.
Mr Abbott visited a public memorial in honour of Mr Floyd in a Houston church last year. Source: Getty Images
State Senator Royce West, a Democrat who carried the "George Floyd Act" in the Senate, said he understands the politics if Mr Abbott was waiting until after the Republican primary elections in March. But he said the governor should act on the recommendation.
"As he's always said, he is a law and order governor," Mr West said. "And this would be following the law."
