The onetime ruffian from Dorchester has applied to the Massachusetts Board of Pardons to have the violent assault conviction removed from his record. 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. Advertisement 
 
 Wahlberg hit Lam over the head with a wooden stick and, according to police, called his victim a string of racial slurs. He was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a controlled substance, and served 45 days of a 90-day sentence at the Deer Island House of Correction. Sign up for more newsletters here 
 
 “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 states in the application filed with the Board of Pardons. 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.” 
 
 He acknowledges that a pardon would be helpful as he (and his brothers) continue to grow their restaurant business. "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. “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.” 
 
 More coverage: 
 
 • Document: Mark Wahlberg’s pardon petition 
 
 • Wahlburgers cooks up ambitious expansion plan
– Back in 1988, Mark Wahlberg was just a 16-year-old troublemaker, and after trying to steal two cases of beer from Thanh Lam outside a Massachusetts convenience store, he beat the man with a 5-foot stick and screamed racial slurs at him. The attack left Lam blind in one eye, NECN reports. Wahlberg was convicted of assault and served 45 days, and now, more than 26 years later, he'd like the conviction erased from his record, the Boston Globe reports. "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 wrote in his application to the state's Board of Pardons. "I have not engaged in philanthropic efforts in order to make people forget about my past," he continued, mentioning his own charity, as well as his support of the Dorchester Boys and Girls Clubs. "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. ... 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." He does note that a pardon would also allow him to get a concessionaire's license, which would help in terms of his Wahlburgers restaurant chain. (Wahlberg's latest good deed: He'll go bald for a cancer charity.)