The family of late Doors frontman Jim Morrison and his former bandmates have called for official apologies from the state of Florida and the city of Miami over Morrison’s 1969 arrest for lewd and lascivious behavior.

Morrison was officially pardoned earlier this month, but the singer’s family and the surviving Doors feel he shouldn’t be pardoned for anything. “His performance in Miami that night was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of the Doors’ music and message,” they said in a statement. “The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians—not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars. As Ann Woolner of The Albany Times-Union wrote recently, ‘Morrison’s case bore all the signs of a political prosecution, a rebuke from the cultural right to punish a symbol of Dionysian rebellion.’”

Whatever took place that night ended with the Doors sharing beers and laughter in the dressing room with the Miami police, who acted as security at the venue that evening. No arrests were made.

The statement goes on to say that it wasn’t until four days later that warrants were issued in Miami for the arrest of Morrison on “trumped-up charges of indecency, public obscenity and general rock ’n’ roll revelry.”

“If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison’s arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate—and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record,” the family said. 

Source: Gibson

At a Miami concert in 1969, Doors frontman Jim Morrison delivered what could certainly be described as a provocative performance.

Morrison was drunk and police subsequently charged the emerging rock superstar with lewd and lascivious behavior. Police maintained that Morrison had exposed himself to members of the audience.

Yet, Morrison denies this accusation. Witnesses at the concert even lined up in support of Morrison, denying he had done anything of the sorts.

While appealing his conviction, Morrison was found dead in 1971, in a bathtub at a Paris hotel. The charges remained, but recently the state of Florida issued the late rocker an official pardon.

The members of the Doors that are still alive, as well as Morrison’s family, reject the pardon. They maintained that the charges against him were the result of politicians taking advantage of an opportunity to grandstand. They condemned the state for waging a continued culture-war against our first amendment rights.

The remaining Doors and the Morrison family want an apology and the incident expunged from his record.

They have rejected the official pardon, which comes posthumously. They maintain that Morrison did not even need to be forgiven.

Florida governor Charlie Crist had asked for the pardon, which had been granted by the Clemency Board unanimously. 

Source: Spreadit.org

Four decades after his conviction, the Florida Board of Executive Clemency decided to issue a post mortem pardon for popular singer Jim Morrison who was convicted while alive for indecent exposure and open profanity. The let off proposal for the board was made by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a declared Doors fan. Jim Morrison had received these charges after an incident that happened during a concert in Miami, Florida.

The governor said that this pardon should have come earlier at the time of Jim Morrison’s death because a legacy like his should be appreciated and people should not remember a man’s last action something that maybe didn’t even happen. The pardon is somehow a correction of the fact that the popular singer did not have a chance at the presumption of innocence that nowadays represents the cornerstone of the American criminal justice system. Charlie Crist is to leave the office in January and this is one of his last acts as Governor, an attempt to right a wrong, as he declared.

The pardon was not much appreciated by the late artist’s wife Patricia Morrison who declared that her husband did nothing in the first place so this pardon doesn´t really mean much. The charges were initially seen by her as a publicity stunt so her opinion is that the pardon represents the same thing as well.

On March 1st 1969, Morrison allegedly unzipped his pants during a Miami concert and simulated a sex act. He was believed to be drunk and maybe even on drugs, screaming obscenities at the public… The charges were denied at the time by the artist. 

Source: World News Heard Now

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) The surviving members of The Doors are not impressed with the recent posthumous pardon for frontman Jim Morrison, claiming the singer did not need to be forgiven in the first place.

In fact, the Doors along with the Morrison family are so disgruntled that they have rejected the official pardon and are insisting that the state of Florida, as well as the city of Miami, issue an apology.

According to police, The Doors' lead singer was drunk at a Miami concert in 1969 and exposed himself, which Morrison denied and witnesses at the concert supported; however, Morrison was arrested four days later and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, reports The Rolling Stone.

Morrison was appealing his conviction when he was found dead in a Paris bathtub in 1971 at age 27.

Earlier this month, outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist asked for the pardon which the Clemency Board granted unanimously. Crist said he doubts Morrison actually exposed himself during the March 1, 1969 concert at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium.

In a statement, the remaining Doors, along with the family, say Morrison's performance that night was "certainly provocative," but "the charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians." They say the state and city should issue an apology, expunge the incident from the record and "promise to stop letting culture-war hysteria trump our First Amendment rights." 

Source: 48 Hours | Mystery