Outgoing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is considering a pardon for celebrated outlaw Billy the Kid. An informal e-mail poll shows support. But time is running out.
By Mark Guarino, Staff writer / December 29, 2010
Billy the Kid, the mythologized gunslinger whose bloody exploits have been both romanticized and condemned, may receive his pardon from New Mexico’s governor this week – 130 years after historians say it was promised. Bill Richardson, a long-time enthusiast of Old West lore who is leaving office after eight years as governor, polled his constituents via the state website, seeking their thoughts on whether the Kid deserves a posthumous reprieve for court testimony he gave in an 1879 murder.
The governor’s office reported receiving more than 800 e-mails, mostly in favor of the pardon.