# Robert Downey Jr. Pardoned for 1990s Drug Convictions By California Governor



## kozykitten (25 Dez. 2015)

Robert Downey Jr. got a one-of-a-kind Christmas present on Thursday when California Gov. Jerry Brown granted the actor clemency for his past crimes. 

Downey, who struggled with drug problems in the late 1990s, had his criminal record scrubbed in the Christmas Eve pardon, which has become a tradition in California, according to Los Angeles Times. 

The 50-year-old star spent several stints in jail for drug-related charges. After repeated arrests in 1996 – including for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence – he served, in total, two years and eight months behind bars. He completed his parole in 2002, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

"I accidentally [got] involved in heroin after smoking crack for the first time. It finally tied my shoelaces together," Downey Jr. told Rolling Stone back in 2010 of his former struggles. "Smoking dope and smoking coke, you are rendered defenseless. The only way out of that hopeless state is intervention." 

The pardon notes Downey's "good conduct in the community" in the time since his release, and asserts that he "has paid his debt to society and earned a full and unconditional pardon."


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