Pardon Billy the Kid

[nmbluesky]

Poll question: Pardon Billy the Kid

New Mexico Governor weight about pardon Billy the kid
Gov. Bill Richardson is considering a pardon for Billy the Kid, saying Wallace never offered a pardon, and a petition seeking one is tainted because it comes from a lawyer with ties to Richardson.

Sheriff Pat Garrett's grandson J.P. Garrett and Wallace's great-grandson William Wallace submitted their objections after Richardson set up a website last week to take public comment on the possibility of a posthumous pardon for the Kid on a murder indictment. The governor said he will decide before his term ends Dec. 31.

As of Tuesday, the governor's office had received 370 e-mails and about 20 letters, with sentiment so far running slightly in favor of the pardon, said Eric Witt, Richardson's deputy chief of staff.

The issue centers on whether Lew Wallace, governor of the territory from 1878 to 1881, promised a pardon in return for the Kid's testimony in a murder case against three men.

J.P. Garrett, of Albuquerque, who with other Garrett descendants met with Richardson in August to oppose a pardon, said there's no proof Gov. Wallace offered one — and he may have tricked the Kid into testifying.

"The big picture is that Wallace obviously had no intent to pardon Billy — even telling a reporter that fact in an interview on April 28, 1881," he wrote Witt. "So there was no 'pardon promise' that Wallace broke. But I do think there was a pardon 'trick,' in that Wallace led Billy on to get his testimony."

William Wallace, of Westport, Conn., said his ancestor never promised a pardon and that pardoning the Kid "would declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonorable liar."

Billy the Kid, also known as William Bonney, was shot to death by Sheriff Garrett in July 1881.

J.P. Garrett said he wants to see written evidence of the promise cited by Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn, who submitted a petition for a pardon last week after reviewing historical documents.

The Kid wrote Wallace in 1879, volunteering to testify in the murder case if Wallace would annul pending charges against him, including a murder indictment in the 1878 shooting death of Sheriff William Brady.
Garrett said the action suggests it's a facade to allow Richardson to grant an "illegal pardon."

McGinn said her only tie to the administration is that she volunteered to look into the issue for free, knowing Richardson's interest. She said he told her "he wasn't promising anything."

Her pardon request focuses on Brady's killing, and not on two deputies the Kid killed when he escaped from jail in April 1881 after being sentenced to hang for shooting Brady.

Garrett told McGinn people of the time lived in fear of the Kid.

"I don't believe a thief, a liar, a terrorizer of the ordinary people and a multiple cop killer should ever be granted a pardon," he wrote.
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/billy-the-kid-pardon-draws-protests

[RandomThoughts]

1. I don't think I would agree with that last line.

Function not data.

However I do think a gesture of good faith, like correction of wrong done years ago would go a long way to thinking on pardons for many people. That seems to match most systems were learning is shown during rehabilitation.

So don't think that same way about never pardoning those that claim to not pardon me, or claim to be able to do that. In my situation it is an opposite things, they would think I am the criminal them the authority, and vice versa, pretty funny actually.

Although if I was to claim to be able to pardon someone or some group, I really might not even hold it to some condition, would probably just do it some day, maybe. Haven't thought much on it.

Might think on that a bit. I could think of ways to pardon some war criminals possibly, but would probably spend more time on people nobody ever heard of with unjust actions done to them or out of proportion actions done against them.

Hard to believe some of the conditions people think are valid confinements in prisons, sad to here of people hurt or attacked when they should be in a rehabilitating environment if possible.

[Ex Lurker]

2. he was a rough character in a time of rough characters

but probably no worse than most of his contemporaries. He had the misfortune to throw in with the losing faction in a local political feud. Good guy and Bad guy were fluid categories. Depending on circumstances, a man may find himself on either side of the law--and sometimes on both sides simultaneously.

[hlthe2b]

3. Sure why not... We can't deliver justice while alive...

(evidence the Bush* crowd), so maybe we can after death? Frankly I don't care, but it does sound like the historians have the facts that justify.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Posthumous pardons, especially from so long ago...

...strike me as kinda stupid. The recipient no longer cares, and after over a century I doubt any descendants care either. It doesn't do them any material good, in any case. Put that time and effort into serving the living.