Gov considers pardoning Billy the Kid

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE/AP) - New Mexico's most notorious outlaw may finally get what he was promised 130 years ago.

Pat Garrett shot Billy the Kid on July 14, 1881. Garrett had tracked him after the outlaw escaped from the Lincoln County jail in a famous gunbattle that left two deputies dead. Now, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is considering pardoning Billy the Kid.

"If Billy the Kid was living amongst us now, would you issue a pardon for someone who made his living as a thief and, more egregiously, who killed four law enforcement officers and numerous others?" the Garrett family wrote in a letter they sent to Richardson this week in response to the idea of Billy the Kid's pardon.

Gov. Richardson asked a New Mexico columnist in early 2010 to check with historians to see what support would be like if he were to pardon Billy the Kid. Garrett's family argued the pardon would diminish the deed Garrett did all those years ago. Richardson plans to meet with the Garrett family next week. Richardson previously considered the same pardon during his first term in 2003, but never made a final decision.

Billy the Kid claimed that Territorial Governor Lew Wallace promised to pardon him for the 1879 murder of Lincoln County Sheriff William Grady in return for Billy's testimony against another murderer. Billy did testify, but never received his pardon.

"Governor Richardson has always said that he would consider making good on Governor Wallace's promise to Billy the Kid for a pardon," Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said Thursday. "He is aware of the Garrett family's concerns and will be meeting with them next week."

Another controversy surrounding the Billy the Kid case was whether Garrett actually shot and killed Billy. Researchers found Billy the Kid's blood on a staircase in the old Lincoln County Courthouse where he was allegedly shot, but survived. There was great debate on whether Garrett shot the real Billy the Kid or just another person and lied about it. Some historians think Billy the Kid actually went to Texas, where he went by "Brushy Bill" Roberts and died of a heart attack at age 90 in 1950.

Gale Cooper, an amateur historian who lives near Albuquerque, said a pardon by Richardson would be the "culmination of the hoax that contended Pat Garrett was a nefarious killer and Billy was not buried in his grave."

Cooper has written a book, "MegaHoax," to debunk claims that Garrett killed someone other than the Kid.

Despite the debate, the Garrett family still describes Billy the Kid as a "gangster."

"Everybody wants to mythologize Billy the Kid," said Susan Floyd Garrett of Santa Fe, one of the grandchildren who signed the letter to Richardson.

Richardson has about three months left in office to decide.