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The legendary Wild West outlaw won’t be pardoned for his infamous activity after all.Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday he would not offer a posthumous pardon for Billy the Kid in the death of a law enforcement officer more than 100 years ago.
Richardson, who leaves office today, was considering the issue based on evidence that the state’s governor at the time, Lew Wallace, promised to pardon Billy the Kid, whose real name was William H. Bonney. Richardson said on Good Morning America that he believes Wallace did promise to pardon him, but it was unclear why he didn’t follow through. The descendants of the deceased officer had vocally opposed a pardon as well.
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“The romanticism appealed to me to issue a pardon, but the facts and the evidence did not support it,” Richardson said. (via CNN)