In a forgiving mood during his last days in office, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday recommended pardoning three more men for old crimes, adding their names to a pile of pardons he has sent to the Governor’s Council in the final months of his administration.
Baker moved to grant forgiveness to Edmund Mulvehill Jr. for his 1977 armed robbery conviction, to John Austin III for a 1996 second-offense drunk driving conviction, and Philip Hagar Jr. for his 1971 record of “discharging a firearm within 150 feet of a highway.”
Mulvehill was sentenced to seven years in prison suspended for three years of probation, for back-to-back robberies of a Norwood gas station in which he was armed with a knife, according to a Parole Board report. A Vietnam-era U.S. Air Force veteran, Mulvehill told the board of “traumatic events” in combat overseas which led to a substance addiction. Since his conviction, he “dedicated his life to working with disabled veterans,” according to the report, and worked as a municipal veterans’ services director for more than 20 years.
Austin, who failed field sobriety tests when pulled over for a U-turn 26 years ago, now works both as a hospital radiology technician and as a deputy fire chief, according to the Parole Board.
And Hagar, now 83 years old and a National Guard veteran, was fined $35 for his offense in 1971. He told the Parole Board he had fired at a deer while hunting with his dad and did not realize his close proximity to the highway. Hagar hopes to regain his license to carry, which he held for more than 40 years, and participate more fully in his local fish and game club.
The Parole Board did not hear any opposition to the three petitions. The council has already approved around a dozen of Baker’s pardons on unanimous votes since receiving the first batch in October.
The elected eight-member panel plans a public hearing on Tuesday on the pardons of Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave.
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