Billy the Kid Pardon Possibility Angers Pat Garrett's Descendants

New Mexico Governor Explored Pardoning Billy the Kid

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Billy the Kid's Grave

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Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, had said that he would explore the possibility of pardoning Billy the Kid, one of America's most famous outlaws, who was gunned down by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garret on July 14, 1881.

Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty in 1859, is confirmed to have killed four people, including two sheriff's deputies. Billy the Kid became a folk hero after his death, largely due to the biography written by Pat Garrett.

Pat Garrett's descendants see the move as a publicity stunt, and unneccessary in any event, as, aside from being a known multiple murderer, Billy the Kid has been dead for almost 130 years. 

Bill Richardson 'Rewriting' History of Billy the Kid

The Garretts have accused Bill Richardson of taking flights of fancy with history, taking Brushy Bill Roberts, who died in 1950, at his word that he was Billy the Kid. After all, Young Guns II was a work of fiction. Still, history enthusiasts have argued for years over whether or not Pat Garrett actually killed Billy the Kid, or if he killed someone else and claimed that it was the famous outlaw (which doesn't answer the question of why he'd take the massive risk of Billy the Kid resurfacing sooner or later).

Susan Floyd Garrett, Pat Garrett's granddaughter, spoke on behalf of Garrett's relatives against a possible pardon: