On January 7, 2011, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter grant­ed a full and uncon­di­tion­al posthu­mous par­don to Joe Arridy, who had been con­vict­ed and exe­cut­ed as an accom­plice to a mur­der that occurred in 1936. The par­don came 72 years after Arridy’s exe­cu­tion and is the first such par­don in Colorado his­to­ry. A press release from the gov­er­nor’s office stat­ed, “[A]n over­whelm­ing body of evi­dence indi­cates the 23-year-old Arridy was inno­cent, includ­ing false and coerced con­fes­sions, the like­li­hood that Arridy was not in Pueblo at the time of the killing, and an admis­sion of guilt by some­one else.” The gov­er­nor also point­ed to Arridy’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties. He had an IQ of 46 and func­tioned like a tod­dler. The gov­er­nor said, ​“Granting a posthu­mous par­don is an extra­or­di­nary rem­e­dy. But the trag­ic con­vic­tion of Mr. Arridy and his sub­se­quent exe­cu­tion on Jan. 6, 1939, mer­it such relief based on the great like­li­hood that Mr. Arridy was, in fact, inno­cent of the crime for which he was exe­cut­ed, and his severe men­tal dis­abil­i­ty at the time of his tri­al and exe­cu­tion. Pardoning Mr. Arridy can­not undo this trag­ic event in Colorado his­to­ry. It is in the inter­ests of jus­tice and sim­ple decen­cy, how­ev­er, to restore his good name.”

The gov­er­nor’s press release gives sig­nif­i­cant cred­it to Mr. Arridy’s attor­ney, David Martinez: ​“The request for Arridy’s par­don was brought to Gov. Ritter by local attor­ney David A. Martinez, who has spent years research­ing the case.”

(“72 Years after Execution, a Posthumous Pardon,” 9News​.com, January 8, 2011). Read Gov. Ritter’s state­ment of par­don. See Innocence, Clemency, and Intellectual Disabilitiy.

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