This is serious stuff for Billy. Without this pardon, he’ll have trouble getting a good job, renting an apartment, or possibly voting. He may not be able to serve on a jury, join the military or own a firearm. He’s screwed anyway you look at it.
I really hope he appeals this.
Edit.
Link would be nice
I say we don’t pardon him until he says he’s sorry. He’s had 129 years to make an apology and not a word.
I was glad to hear it. The notion of pardoning a man who’s been dead for more than a century, was unquestionably guilty of multiple murders without any justification, and who died in a shootout was stupid.
I have a good photo of my wife standing next to Billy the Kid’s gravestone in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. After the present one was put there in the 1940s, it was stolen and recovered no less than three times, so they finally put a steel cage around it.
So, apparently they aren’t letting him out of prison either. 
Better safe than sorry!
Has he offered any evidence of his rehabilitation?
[obligatory quotation]Kid, are you rehabilitated ?[/oq]
“Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I’ve rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I’m
sittin’ here on the bench, I mean I’m sittin here on the Group W bench
‘cause you want to know if I’m moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein’ a litterbug.”
[insert Jim Morrison pardon joke here. I can’t think of one.]
I’m trying to think…would there have been ANY, even a minute, meaningful change for anyone involved had a pardon been issued?
btw…has anyone corrected Garrett’s family and told them, “No, if a pardon is issued, that would NOT mean that your ancestor shot an innocent man.” ?
A new History Channel program. Employment.
I don’t like pardons like this either. There’s too much we don’t know. History is never 100% accurate. Anyway, the outlaw image is what made the guy famous. 
And that outlaw image brings tourist dollars to New Mexico. I think Bill Richardson is looking at the bottom line.
This, plus Roswell.
(OTOH, “Truth or Consequences” didn’t pan out so well…)
I’m all for everybody else abiding by their own code of morality, but I am curious as to what kind of demon-possessed idiot came up with this idea.
Best wishes,
hh
If he can be a hero to Bobby Brady then he should be pardoned.
I like the part when Mr Brady brings, Mr Quigley from All In The Family over to tell Bobby how his father was shot by Jesse James and Bobby is like, “Too bad he didn’t have an extra bullet for you.” 
It had to do with a deal he supposedly made with the Governor of Mexico to offer testimony in another murder case in exchange for a pardon. The Governor allegedly welched on the deal after the testimony. The issue was brought up now not because anyone though Billy the Kid was actually innocent or a great guy, but out of an argument that New Mexico had a legal obligation to honor its deal (even if it was a deal with the Devil). Bill Richardson decided that there wasn’t clear enough evidence that such a deal had existed, but implied that if dispositive evidence of a deal had existed, he would have felt the state of New Mexico. was still obligated to honor it.
This was not an effort to declare Billy the Kid to be factually innocent, but an effort that the state should have paid off on a deal.
CNN.com’s story on it: No pardon for Billy the Kid - CNN.com
Gov. Richardson made no bones about the fact that this was a publicity stunt. Ugh.
Indeed. No one in his right mind would ever suggest an innocent man had been convicted or killed. The Kid was a bad 'un all right, rotten to the core.