I don’t know where I’ve been for the past two weeks, because somehow I missed out on the issue of Billy the Kid receiving a pardon from the governor of New Mexico. Read the article here and then read on for my comments.
The incoming Governor has said that she won’t even consider the pardon because there are many pressing issues that she will be contending with. I applaud her. But Governor Bill Richardson can’t be bothered attending to any REAL issues during the final few days of his term. That being said, Mr. Richardson is hedging as to whether he will or he won’t pardon Billy the Kid. (Sorry I couldn’t help that dig.)
At the time of his death there was some talk that New Mexico Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace had offered some type of pardon to Billy in exchange for his testimony in a murder case. However it seems that Wallace tricked Billy into testifying and never really had any intentions of pardoning him. Not surprising the descendents of Pat Garrett and Lew Wallace are opposing a pardon for Billy.
Garrett’s grandson wrote, “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. But I do think there was a pardon ‘trick,’ in that Wallace led Billy on to get his testimony.”
Wallace’s great-grandson wrote his ancestor never promised a pardon, so pardoning the Kid “would declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonorable liar.”
If there is written documentation that Wallace led Billy the Kid on, then I believe they should grant the pardon; if Wallace tricked Billy, he is no better than a dishonorable liar in my book.
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