Florida Governor pardons Jim Morrison

Charlie Crist, Florida Governor, seriously thinks about pardoning rock star Jim Morrison for the singer's 1970 indecent exposure and profanity conviction stemming from a Miami concert the year before.

Photo: Florida Governor pardons Jim Morrison

The pardon would be a posthumous one; Morrison died at age 27.

"That's really a kid, when you think about it, and obviously he was having some challenges. There's some dispute about how solid the case was," Crist said.

The arrest is still a part of the Morrison legend. He was drunk at the concert and police said he exposed himself, which Morrison denied. Morrison appealed the conviction but was found dead in a Paris bathtub before it could be heard.

"Trying to clear his name and then he dies. If you have a heart pounding in your chest, that has to tug at you a little bit. It should," Crist said.

The issue came up last month, when Ohio resident Dave Diamond wrote Crist and said there were no photos or video that could prove the case, and no witnesses who could say with 100 percent certainty that Morrison exposed himself.

Diamond also pointed out that New York Governor George Pataki pardoned comedian Lenny Bruce of an obscenity charge nearly four decades after his death.

Diamond said in an e-mail Tuesday that a pardon would correct a legal injustice and bring relief to the Morrison family and the surviving Doors band members who "have had to live with the embarrassment of this botched case."

Crist said he has his legal team reviewing the case and determining the procedure for granting a pardon.

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who said he never saw Morrison expose himself, was elated that Crist is considering the pardon.

"You know what would really be nice? Florida is Jim's home state. He's a Florida boy. Wouldn't it great if Florida could finally say, 'Hey, native son, Your name is cleared. We recognize you as a young American poet,"' Manzarek said.

Crist, certainly, is willing to forgive youthful indiscretion.

"Who doesn't do things that maybe they wish they hadn't done when you're that young? And then there was a problem with drugs," Crist said.

"I can remember when I was 10 years old listening to the song, 'Come on, baby, light my fire.' Classic. Classic. And to have that much talent and to have it sucked out, even if there was some self-involvement ... that's very sad and very tragic."