According to legendary account, Henry “Billy the Kid” McCarty killed 21 people, one for each year of his life. Eventually, the criminal brought to justice, shot dead in 1881 by Sheriff Patrick Garrett after killing two deputies and escaping jail to avoid a hanging sentence.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had been asked to posthumously pardon Kidd to fulfil a promise of clemency. AP reports that the request was made in exchange for testifying in a murder case. Richardson declined, he said, because of insufficient details about the pact between Garrett and the outlaw.