Actor Mark Wahlberg seeks a pardon for 1988 assaults

[chaos]

One of the men Wahlberg assaulted lost his sight in one eye. Besides, Wahlberg spent a minimal amount of time in jail. I don't understand why he wants a legal "pardon." If he wants forgiveness he should try to make amends with his victims.

I remember watching an interview a few years ago where he discusses the incident; his flippant demeanor was striking.

I hope he is denied.

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/EX ... 95961.html

Mark Wahlberg Seeks Pardon in 1988 Assault Case

The actor says the pardon would be formal recognition that someone can receive public redemption if he devotes himself to a life of good works

By Alison King
Actor Mark Wahlberg is asking the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pardon him for crimes he committed more than 25 years ago. (Published Thursday, Dec 4, 2014)
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 • Updated at 8:51 AM EST

Mark Wahlberg is asking Massachusetts to wipe out his decades-out assault conviction, saying that ever since he served time for a 1988 attack that left another man blind in one eye, he has tried to become a "better person and citizen."

The movie superstar, now 43, has filed an application with the Massachusetts Board of Pardons, hoping to get his criminal record erased.

"I am deeply sorry for the actions that I took on the night of April 8, 1988, as well as for any lasting damage that I may have caused the victims," Wahlberg wrote in his pardon application. "Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others."

Wahlberg says in the application, filed Nov. 26, that on April 8, 1988, he tried to steal two cases of alcohol from a man outside a convenience store on Dorchester Avenue, hitting him over the head with a stick and then punching another man in the face as he fled from police.

Though only 16, he was tried as an adult in Dorchester District Court, in the neighborhood where he grew up the youngest of nine children. He was convicted of assault after being charged with attempted murder and other charges, and he served 45 days in prison.

In his pardon application, Wahlberg, best known for his roles in movies like "The Fighter" and "The Departed," goes on to say that he has spoken "openly and publicly" about his actions on that night over the past 20-plus years.

In his petition, he outlines the incidents that led to his arrest, saying that he attempted to steal two cases of alcohol from a man who was standing outside of a convenience store near his home around 9 p.m. He said he hit the man on the head with a wooden stick, and then ran down the block to evade police. While attempting to avoid police, he said he punched another man in the face.

"I was detained by police a few minutes after that," Wahlberg wrote. "While I was detained, the police discovered that I had a small amount of marijuana in my back pocket. During the incident, I was under the influence of alcohol and narcotics."

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."

Explaining his reasons for wanting a pardon, Wahlberg says he'd like to be able to get a concessionaire's license to help him with his restaurant businesses, and he'd like to be able to help law enforcement, working with at-risk kids.

"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," Wahlberg concluded. "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."

"He has set an example he has this foundation which he's had for a long time," said Senior Vice President Wendy Pierce of Solomon McCown, a strategic consulting firm. "Maybe he is trying to expand his foundation, maybe he wants to build a youth center, maybe he just really wants to show his kids that you can clear your name."

It could take some time for Wahlberg to get a response from the state. The Board of Pardons needs to investigate the petition and decide if it warrants a public hearing before it is recommended to the governor who, by that time, will be not Deval Patrick, but Charlie Baker.

If the governor approves, it still needs to get the approval of the governor's council.

Another article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/ ... story.html

[kv]

wear your badge of taking his sight...guys not gonna see again if he gets pardoned or if mark was a good person from that point forward...that's some bullshit

[creep]

if he fills out a job application they may ask him if he has ever been convicted of a felony. this could hurt him finding a job and he might have to work for a place that will accept felons like a thrift shop or salvation army.

[Artemis]

Mark Wahlberg is one of the owners of Wahlburgers. I don't know if it is a chain or not, but they have a couple of restaurants in Boston and they just opened one in Toronto last month.

[chaos]

Maybe he wants to be prepared if the restaurants go under.

Keep in mind the assault he is seeking a pardon for is not an isolated incident; it is the incident where someone received the most serious injury to date.

He sounds like he wants to be absolved rather than redeemed; this does not belong in the courts.

"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."
...
"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," Wahlberg concluded. "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."

I mean really, how many people can say that they are not the same person they were 10 or 20 years ago. He may have been rehabilitated, but I don't think a legal pardon was designed to give someone a formal gold star for personal improvement.

[nausearockpig]

What a FUCKING CUNT. Maybe if Marky Mark wants to be absolved of this crime he can a) sacrifice one of his own eyes, and b) pump all of his money into Doctor Fred Hollows' foundation?

http://www.hollows.org.au/Fred-Hollows

[Hype]

Maybe if Marky Mark wants to be absolved of this crime he can a) sacrifice one of his own eyes,

No. The Babylonian idea of lex talionis has no place in a true system of justice. By this logic, we should never lock people up, we should just have the state do to them exactly what they did to whoever their victims were. But that's not only pointless, it's barbaric and stupid.

Do you identify with the behaviour you had in 1988? I know I don't. The fact that Wahlberg is a dick who got caught being a violent dick 26 years ago doesn't really have anything to do with whether a legal pardon should be issued. That issue is settled by whatever the law says and how it could be applied to his case. Less strictly, the question is really what purpose a legal record is supposed to serve, whether it serves it in this case, and so on...

This such a boring case, and it's only being talked about because people know who the guy is.

[nausearockpig]

Probably not so boring for the guy who lost an eye. I wonder how he feels about Marky Mark's little request?

[Pandemonium]

Probably not so boring for the guy who lost an eye. I wonder how he feels about Marky Mark's little request?

He doesn't see eye to eye with Marky.

boom. tish.

[creep]

not bad

[nausearockpig]

Probably not so boring for the guy who lost an eye. I wonder how he feels about Marky Mark's little request?

He doesn't see eye to eye with Marky.

boom. tish.

And you make it…
And you make it so…
Obvious…

Why do you have to make it so!-so!-so!-so!-so! OBVIOUS!?

[Hype]

If that guy is still worried about whether Mark Wahlberg has a criminal record, then that guy is an idiot. If everyone who was ever negatively affected or hurt by another human being held onto that for the rest of their life the world would be a fucking terrible place.

Oh wait... what planet is this?

[nausearockpig]

Seems to me you're dehumanising this a little bit...

One guy lost an eye (or vision in an eye) due to the actions of another guy.. First guy has to live with the consequence of the second guy's actions for the rest of his life - he now only has vision in one eye so things like driving would be affected, not to mention the social stigma of being "deformed" or "mutilated" or even just "different".. I bet he still gets looks from people every day and is treated a little bit differently... maybe it impacted his self esteem a little or a lot which would have an effect on his day to day living to a large or small degree - anything from getting and keeping a job to feeling, or being seen as, attractive to other people. I add that it may not have affected him at all, but I would assume that's unlikely...

Yeah sure, Marky Mark suffered from this too, but he caused it. he went to jail, then joined a boy band and made movies and is now rich.... Saying MM should sacrifice an eye was an over the top comment, and I doubt it would make the victim feel better or that justice has been served, but I personally think that asking for national absolvement (is that a word?) of his crime is wrong.

I wonder Hype, how would you feel if something like this had happened to you? I doubt any of us can say for sure how we "would feel" without actually living the experience and any subsequent experiences....

[Hype]

I injured my left eye when I was 8. I have lived with it for over two decades. I know what it's like to not be able to see in 3D properly, and to have to double-check a lot, and my brain basically ignores the left side of my visual field. It causes problems at odd times, like walking down the street, or sitting in a seminar, it's better for me to be on a certain side of things. But it's not the worst thing that could happen to anyone. And even if Wahlberg had raped someone, or worse... I'm not sure what the effect on the victim has to do with what the state should do with criminals.

[Essence_Smith]

Fuck Marky Mark...he doesn't even like to ADMIT he was a "rapper" once and ALWAYS downplays that aspect of his career. He went from corny rapper to underwear model to actor and now he wants to be pardoned for business purposes?

Let's add some context to what young Marky actually did...

Wahlberg had been in trouble 20–25 times with the Boston Police Department in his youth. By age 13, Wahlberg had developed an addiction to cocaine and other substances.[9][10] At 15, civil action was filed against Wahlberg for his involvement in two separate incidents of harassing African-American children (the first were siblings, and the second incident was a group of black school children on a field trip), by throwing rocks and shouting racial epithets.[11] At 16, Wahlberg approached a middle-aged Vietnamese man named Thanh Lam on the street and, using a large wooden stick, knocked him unconscious while calling him "Vietnam fucking shit".[12] That same day, using another wooden stick, Wahlberg also attacked a second Vietnamese man named Hoa Trinh, striking him in the face with such force that it left him permanently blind in one eye.[11][12] [13] In this fight he called his victim a "gook" and "slant eye." [12]

For these crimes, Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to two years in Suffolk County Deer Island House of Correction. He ultimately served only 45 days of his sentence.[12][14] In another incident, the 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack. Commenting in 2006 on his past crimes, Wahlberg has stated: "I did a lot of things that I regret, and I have certainly paid for my mistakes." He said the right thing to do would be to try to find the blinded man and make amends, and admitted he has not done so, but added that he was no longer burdened by guilt: "You have to go and ask for forgiveness and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right by other people, as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good when I wake up in the morning."[14]

After going to prison for assault, he decided to improve his behavior. According to Wahlberg, "As soon as I began that life of crime, there was always a voice in my head telling me I was going to end up in jail. Three of my brothers had done time. My sister went to prison so many times I lost count. Finally I was there, locked up with the kind of guys I'd always wanted to be like. Now I'd earned my stripes and I was just like them, and I realized it wasn't what I wanted at all. I'd ended up in the worst place I could possibly imagine and I never wanted to go back. First of all, I had to learn to stay on the straight and narrow." Wahlberg first relied on the guidance of his parish priest to turn his back on crime. He told his street gang that he was leaving them and had "some serious fights" with them over it. The actor commented in 2009: "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I've done bad things, but I never blamed my upbringing for that. I never behaved like a victim so that I would have a convenient reason for victimizing others. Everything I did wrong was my own fault. I was taught the difference between right and wrong at an early age. I take full responsibility."[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Wahlb ... conviction

I've read numerous articles on his actions when he was young...I'm not saying that he doesn't have a right to seek the pardon, but I'm sorry part of me doesn't feel sorry for him and probably won't. He's a felon done well and that's a rare thing...many more who are probably a million times more sincere about what they did and actually try and give back to people they've hurt. My dude just seems like he wants to make some more money and this is what's standing in his way...

[Hype]

It's not even a question of whether he's an asshat. He's an asshat. But that's got nothing to do with criminal justice.

[Essence_Smith]

I've done enough work with the courts to know that it's tough to live with the stigma of having committed violent, felony type crimes. My experience has also taught me that the limitations imposed on felons in general while they vary from state to state aren't nearly as bad as how people view someone who has that label. I do think you should have to live with it though. You did the act, and the penalty is that you have to wear that jacket. I can see if he was seeking what in NYS is called a Certificate of Relief:

https://www.parole.ny.gov/certrelief.html

It takes away some of the sanctions but you're still a felon...in NYS it means that security guard job or commercial license you can't get because of the felon status is now an option...but Marky is going the step further and I think he needs to just fall back...I could see pardoning someone who's actually taken steps to do something to give back to the situation...perhaps working troubled youth or something, but Christ, he just wants to run some burger joints...fair enough, but not enough to have it essentially removed from your record...

[Essence_Smith]

It's not even a question of whether he's an asshat. He's an asshat. But that's got nothing to do with criminal justice.

There is NO justice...it's just US...

[Hype]

It's not even a question of whether he's an asshat. He's an asshat. But that's got nothing to do with criminal justice.

There is NO justice...it's just US...

All I meant is that the question of whether someone is a douchey fratboy jock meathead whatever is separate from what the law says can happen.

[nausearockpig]

I injured my left eye when I was 8. I have lived with it for over two decades. I know what it's like to not be able to see in 3D properly, and to have to double-check a lot, and my brain basically ignores the left side of my visual field. It causes problems at odd times, like walking down the street, or sitting in a seminar, it's better for me to be on a certain side of things. But it's not the worst thing that could happen to anyone. And even if Wahlberg had raped someone, or worse... I'm not sure what the effect on the victim has to do with what the state should do with criminals.

I would think that the (presumably) injuring oneself in a solo accident or during a game or sport isn't the same as being attacked by someone else in a violent manner. There are other factors at play. An accident is one thing, being the victim of violence is another thing entirely.

He deliberately injured someone to steal their property and subsequently blinded the guy. Yes, killing or crippling, or raping him would've been worse for the victim, but the point isn't whether Crime A is worse than Crime B, it remains that Marky should not have done any of those things he did.

I think that the immediate and possible subsequent effect on Marky's victim should absolutely affect what is and is not done to the criminal. FFS, Marky served 45 days!

[chaos]

now he wants to be pardoned for business purposes?

I thought a conviction remains on your record regardless of a pardon.

As several people have pointed out, he really doesn't need it for "business purposes." He is being a entitled, narcissistic prick. While he may feel some remorse for being a violent thug who dropped out of high school, on some level he is doing this for publicity.

If he truly wanted to serve as an example of how he has turned his life around, he wouldn't be asking for "formal recognition that someone like [him] can receive official public redemption if he devotes himself to personal improvement and a life of good works."

[Hype]

I injured my left eye when I was 8. I have lived with it for over two decades. I know what it's like to not be able to see in 3D properly, and to have to double-check a lot, and my brain basically ignores the left side of my visual field. It causes problems at odd times, like walking down the street, or sitting in a seminar, it's better for me to be on a certain side of things. But it's not the worst thing that could happen to anyone. And even if Wahlberg had raped someone, or worse... I'm not sure what the effect on the victim has to do with what the state should do with criminals.

I would think that the (presumably) injuring oneself in a solo accident or during a game or sport isn't the same as being attacked by someone else in a violent manner. There are other factors at play. An accident is one thing, being the victim of violence is another thing entirely.

He deliberately injured someone to steal their property and subsequently blinded the guy. Yes, killing or crippling, or raping him would've been worse for the victim, but the point isn't whether Crime A is worse than Crime B, it remains that Marky should not have done any of those things he did.

I think that the immediate and possible subsequent effect on Marky's victim should absolutely affect what is and is not done to the criminal. FFS, Marky served 45 days!

My personal anecdote was a direct counter to your worry about the experience of living without vision in one eye. I didn't claim that the two scenarios are equivalent - I was adopting your logic. But let's ignore that. Ultimately all I'm pushing on is the intuition almost everyone has that immorality deserves punishment, and that legal judgements should track moral judgments. I don't think this is true, either in theory or practice. We don't think the state should torture criminals even if that's what the victims want. Likewise, whatever is otherwise wrong with Wahlberg, I don't think the decision to pardon him or not should be based on what we imagine the victims must feel or what we happen to feel he deserves or what we think his motives are or should be. If thay were how the legal system worked it would be horrible.

[creep]

i don't think a felony should be on your record forever. if you don't commit another crime in ten years or so it should drop off....like a bankruptcy. one stupid mistake shouldn't follow you around forever. i know you can go to court and get it expunged but it should be automatic. this should apply for everyone except child molesters and marky mark.

[nausearockpig]

i don't think a felony should be on your record forever. if you don't commit another crime in ten years or so it should drop off....like a bankruptcy. one stupid mistake shouldn't follow you around forever. i know you can go to court and get it expunged but it should be automatic. this should apply for everyone except child molesters and marky mark.

What about murder, rape, looting, assault, breaking & entering, grand theft auto, running a red light, jaywalking...

Where does the law draw the line? I'm not saying I have the answer btw....

[creep]

i don't think a felony should be on your record forever. if you don't commit another crime in ten years or so it should drop off....like a bankruptcy. one stupid mistake shouldn't follow you around forever. i know you can go to court and get it expunged but it should be automatic. this should apply for everyone except child molesters and marky mark.

What about murder, rape, looting, assault, breaking & entering, grand theft auto, running a red light, jaywalking...

Where does the law draw the line? I'm not saying I have the answer btw....

if the crime is bad enough you would be in jail anyway. the 10 years would be 10 years out of jail living crime free.