Mark Wahlberg Is Seeking a Pardon for a 1988 Boston Assault Charge
Please excuse Mark Wahlberg, Mr. Governor.
The Funky Bunch front man and one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood is requesting a pardon from the Massachusetts Parole Board, hoping to nix a criminal charge from his record. According to a press release, the pardon refers to a 1988 conviction for assault and battery in his native neighborhood of Dorchester.
Wahlberg, who was just in town the summer shooting comedy Ted 2, had a couple run-ins with the law before his rapping-gone-acting days. This case in particular landed him in the Plymouth jail for 45 days.
According to the press release:
Wahlberg was convicted as an adult when he was 16 years old for clubbing a man over the head with a wooden stick outside a Dorchester Avenue convenience store and attempting to steal the man’s beer.
While trying to evade police, he punched a second man in the face, and when he was apprehended police found a bag of marijuana in his pocket. Wahlberg wrote in his petition that he had been under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he committed the crimes, and is “deeply sorry” for his actions.
Wahlberg says that this pardon will allow him to help troubled youth, and the charge currently prohibits him from becoming a parole or probation offer. Wahlberg is known for being involved with all sorts of philanthropic organizations including his own Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, and the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club.
“The more complex answer is that receiving a pardon would be a formal recognition that I am not the same person that I was on the night of April 8, 1988. It would be formal recognition that someone like me can receive official public redemption if he devotes himself to personal improvement and a life of good works,” Wahlberg wrote.
But a more straightforward answer is that his record could prevent him, as a restaurant owner, from receiving a liquor license in California. Not a great look for possible Wahlburgers or Alma Nove expansions.
If all goes well with the Parole Board, the decision will be left up to the governor—most likely Governor-elect Charlie Baker and his council. So the fate of one of the most famous people on the planet might lie in our new governor’s hands. What a way to start a term, eh?
