Mark Wahlberg has applied to be pardoned for his 1988 assault conviction, New England network NECN reports. The actor was 16 years old and attempting to steal beer outside a convenience store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, when he hit one man with a stick and punched another. The man whom he hit with the stick was reportedly left blind in one eye; Wahlberg was tried as an adult and served 45 days in prison. From NECN:
In making his case, Wahlberg cites his involvement with charities and good deeds he has done to rebuild his life, including the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club, the renovation of the Boston-area Parish Gym and the fact that he attends church nearly every day.
“I have not engaged in philanthropic efforts in order to make people forget about my past,” added Wahlberg. “To the contrary, I want people to remember my past so that I can serve as an example of how lives can be turned around and how people can be redeemed.”
NECN says the application will take at least until the new year to make its way through Massachusetts’ board of pardons to the state’s governor, who at that point will be Republican Charlie Baker. It would then have to be approved by the state’s “governor’s council.”
