Jim Morrison wins posthumous pardon

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American rock legend Jim Morrison won a posthumous pardon Thursday for charges of indecent exposure brought after a drunken rant at a concert 41 years ago, Florida officials said.

Outgoing Governor Charlie Crist appealed for clemency to a special committee to clear the lead singer of The Doors of the charges.

"Much controversy surrounds this conviction," Crist said in a statement noting that among other things Morrison was not arrested until four days after the 1969 concert in Coconut Grove, south of Miami.

"In this case, guilt or innocence is in God's hands, not ours. That is why I ask my colleagues today to pardon Jim Morrison," Crist said.

The request was approved unanimously.

Morrison had been accused of displaying his penis, desecrating public morals and profanity while drunk. "Morrison appeared to masturbate in full view of his audience, screamed obscenities and exposed himself," The Miami Herald newspaper reported at the time.

The singer however denied the charges and appealed the judgement and the sentence of six months hard labor, and paid bail to stay out of jail.

Fearing he would be sent to prison however, Morrison left for Paris where he died in 1971 at the age of 27 before his appeal was heard.

Morrison was found dead in a bathtub in his apartment, apparently of a drug-induced heart attack, after a reported binge in a nightclub.