Pardon for the Lizard King

By Sheryl McCollum

I have been to the grave of Jim Morrison.  I have seen first hand the devoted fans and homage still paid to the Lizard King.  I wonder if the Florida Governor has ever really heard this man’s music.  I wonder if he ever truly tried to understand it, feel it, or live it.

“I'm interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom”. Jim Morrison

On September 20, 1970 the jury found Jim Morrison guilty on the misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and profanity.

He would hate this action taken on his “behalf” by the outgoing Governor.  His wife was against the pardon.  She stated; “Jim did nothing wrong to be pardoned for”.  Why then pardon this man?   Why spend the last days of the most power you will ever have and pardon this man?

"It seemed to me that it would be a tragedy to have this be the lasting legacy of his life. I just wanted to give an opportunity for forgiveness." Gov. Crist

I am certain there is no one else in the state of Florida who deserves a pardon more.  There can not be one man or women alive that could actually benefit from a pardon.  Not one living person who could get their productive life back through a pardon.  Only Jim Morrison.

Jim Morrison has been dead nearly 40 years!  “In this case the guilt or innocence is in God’s hands, not ours,” Crist said.  That’s an understatement Governor. 

Well Thank God Justice has been served finally in Florida.  We can all rest easy knowing the Lizard King is no longer has this tarnish.  He has a clean slate. Maybe Tipper Gore won’t have to put a warning sticker on his albums anymore.

Being drunk is a good disguise.  I drink so I can talk to assholes

Jim Morrison

One of his band mates stated that Jim’s legacy is one of "Dionysian madness and frenzy and of a chaotic American poet. I don’t think that the Miami episode has altered his image one iota”. Manzarek

The pardon isn’t enough for Patricia Kennealy Morrison, wife of Morrison who called the pardon “a complete cheap, cynical, political ploy."

Jim had been made a scapegoat of the counterculture movement. Now he is a publicity stunt.

While Morrison denied exposing himself, he defended the use of nudity in theater even after his arrest. And he never toned down his lifestyle.  He had a pattern of disorderly behavior.  He was arrested several times for disorderly conduct. When he realized that numerous policemen had been sent to cover a Doors concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Morrison began baiting them from the stage. He was arrested on charges of obscenity, but was later acquitted. The group was banned from auditoriums in Phoenix and Long Island after Morrison allegedly incited his audience to riot.  Do you see a pattern Governor?

The fact that Morrison didn’t change his life is exactly why he shouldn’t have been pardoned, said retired Miami police sergeant Angel Lago, who came to Tallahassee to speak against the pardon. While he wasn’t on the police force at the time of the concert, he said a friend testified at the trial that Morrison exposed himself. He firmly said his friend wouldn’t have lied under oath.

“The man is not worthy of this. I don’t care if he was a poet, I don’t care if he walked on water,” Largo told reporters during a break in the meeting.

"I'm getting lots of requests in the past few weeks of a similar nature," he says. "But none with the sort of noteworthiness of Jim Morrison.  Gov. Crist

All the other requested were turned down – only Morrison will be pardoned.  Only Morrison has the “noteworthiness”.

Yeah, along came Mr. Goodtrips
Looking for a new a ship
Come on, people better climb on board
Come on, baby, now we're going home
Ship of fools, ship of fools

Jim Morrison

Bottom-line: Morrison would not want this, his wife does not want this, the police do not want this ….. Sounds like a waste of political and judicial power to me.  Someone’s life could have been changed for the better and justice could have been served.  Instead we got “things known and things unknown and in between are the doors”. 

 
 

Sheryl McCollum, MS
Director
Cold Case Investigative Research Institute