This is the End: Jim Morrison becomes posthumous back door (pardon) man
Whether or not the “Lizard King” unzipped his pants and exposed himself to a crowd of thousands more than 40 years ago remains a mystery.
Jim Morrison’s alleged antics will remain forever a part of the late rocker’s legacy. But the charges against him for indecent exposure and public intoxication won’t.
Gov. Charlie Crist, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum, acting as the state Clemency Board, granted Morrison, the lead singer of “The Doors,” a pardon Thursday afternoon as one of their final acts as a panel before leaving office….
Crist, who presented the motion for the pardon himself said that because Morrison died while his appeal was pending, the late rocker did not have a chance to clear his name. “In this case, the guilt or innocence is in God’s hands, not ours. That is why I respectfully ask my colleagues today to pardon Jim Morrison,” Crist said.
Morrison’s pardon was not without drama. Angel Lago, a former Miami cop, showed up to protest the exoneration of Morrison. “My objection is that the gentlemen had showed no remorse for a pardon, didn’t change his lifestyle at all and eventually his drug use killed him in a Paris bar bathroom from a heroin overdose,” Lago said. “I think this is a wrong message to send the youth of this country. I think it’s absolutely wrong.”
But Crist and Sink said that Morrison, who was born in Melbourne, left behind a legacy for which he should be honored. “It’s not about the guilt or innocence of the man and it’s not about retrying the case here today. That’s not what this is about. We have had an opportunity for about 40 years for this son of Florida whose body of work has endured and has this blot on his record, if you will, for something that he may or may not have done when he was essentially a kid,” Crist said.
The vote in favor of Morrison’s pardon was unanimous.
For a host of reasons, I do not love this decision madly and it does not light my fire. There are lots and lots of live people whose clemency requests fail to get even a fraction of time and energy and attention that this Morrison matter has recently generated. But even though this decision does not touch me, I suspect I can and will ride out the storm of media this decision is sure to generate.