Keith Richards to get pardon for mid-70s traffic stop

Keith Richards is on the verge of being pardoned in Arkansas -- for a moving violation from the mid-'70s. In July of 1975 the Rolling Stones guitarist was pulled over in Fordyce, Arkansas, after his car had swerved. Richards told police he had taken his eyes off the road to change the radio station, but police said they smelled pot smoke in the car, and took Richards, Ronnie Wood, and two others to jail. No drug charges were ever filed, however, and Richards paid a fine of $162.20.

In March of this year, Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee met Richards backstage at a Stones concert at the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, and when the guitarist joked about his history in the state, the governor suggested Richards apply for a pardon. According to Reuters, Huckabee even helped out with the paperwork, and said, "I realized that his impression of our state was marred by a misdemeanor traffic stop. I wanted to clear his record in Arkansas as a goodwill gesture."