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Forty years later, Jim Morrison is off the hook.
Outgoing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he has enough votes from the state's clemency board to posthumously pardon the rock legend who was convicted of indecently exposing himself during a 1969 concert in Miami.
Crist, who says he's a fan of Morrison's group, The Doors, told the St. Petersburg Times that he wasn't convinced the singer exposed himself and that he may have been the victim of a culture war.
Florida's Board of Executive Clemency will meet on Thursday — the day after Morrison would have turned 67.
"He was a young guy who maybe, or maybe not, made a mistake," Crist told the newspaper last month. "It strikes me that everyone deserves a second chance. You have to have the capacity for forgiveness."
Crist said he began to consider the pardon after a fan approached him in 2007.
The "Light My Fire" singer was in the middle of appealing the conviction when he was found dead in a bathtub in Paris in 1971. Morrison had been sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
The Doors' surviving bandmates insist that while Morrison was inebriated on stage, he never exposed himself and was merely teasing the crowd.
"It never actually happened. It was mass hypnosis," Ray Manzarek, the band's keyboard player said.
"He was just doing a mind-trip ... a mind-trip on the audience and they totally fell for it."
But some fans who went to the now-infamous show disagree.
Lee Winer, 56, said she can still picture the incident "like it was yesterday."
"He actually unzipped and pulled his pants down a little bit, enough where you can see everything," the California resident said. "I do remember being shocked when that happened, and definitely it happened."
Read more: Jim Morrison, 'The Doors' singer, to be pardoned by Florida Gov. Crist for indecent exposure charge
Outgoing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he has enough votes from the state's clemency board to posthumously pardon the rock legend who was convicted of indecently exposing himself during a 1969 concert in Miami.
Crist, who says he's a fan of Morrison's group, The Doors, told the St. Petersburg Times that he wasn't convinced the singer exposed himself and that he may have been the victim of a culture war.
Florida's Board of Executive Clemency will meet on Thursday — the day after Morrison would have turned 67.
"He was a young guy who maybe, or maybe not, made a mistake," Crist told the newspaper last month. "It strikes me that everyone deserves a second chance. You have to have the capacity for forgiveness."
Crist said he began to consider the pardon after a fan approached him in 2007.
The "Light My Fire" singer was in the middle of appealing the conviction when he was found dead in a bathtub in Paris in 1971. Morrison had been sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
The Doors' surviving bandmates insist that while Morrison was inebriated on stage, he never exposed himself and was merely teasing the crowd.
"It never actually happened. It was mass hypnosis," Ray Manzarek, the band's keyboard player said.
"He was just doing a mind-trip ... a mind-trip on the audience and they totally fell for it."
But some fans who went to the now-infamous show disagree.
Lee Winer, 56, said she can still picture the incident "like it was yesterday."
"He actually unzipped and pulled his pants down a little bit, enough where you can see everything," the California resident said. "I do remember being shocked when that happened, and definitely it happened."
Read more: Jim Morrison, 'The Doors' singer, to be pardoned by Florida Gov. Crist for indecent exposure charge
