Late rock legend Jim Morrison has won a posthumous pardon for charges of indecent exposure brought after a drunken gig 41 years ago. Governor Charlie Crist appealed for clemency to a special board to clear the lead singer of 'The Doors' of the charges.
The board, which consists of Crist and a three-member Cabinet, voted unanimously to pardon Morrison on indecent exposure and profanity charges as they granted several other pardons Thursday. At the hearing, the governor called the convictions a “blot” on the record of an accomplished artist for “something he may or may not have done.”
Morrison was accused of displaying his penis, desecrating public morals and profanity while drunk.
"Morrison appeared to masturbate in full view of his audience, screamed obscenities and exposed himself," The Miami Herald newspaper reported at the time.
Some people who were at the Miami show March 1, 1969, insist even today that he exposed himself, though others in the audience and Morrison’s bandmates contend he was just teasing the crowd and only pretended to do the deed. Crist, tuned in to the controversy by a Doors fan, said there was enough doubt about what happened at the Dinner Key Auditorium to justify a pardon.
The singer however denied the charges and appealed the judgment and the sentence of six months hard labor, and paid bail to stay out of jail.
Fearing he would be sent to prison however, Morrison left for Paris where he died in 1971 at the age of 27 before his appeal was heard.
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