THIS DAY IN 1958: 20 YEAR OLD MERLE HAGGARD CONVICTED OF BURGLARY

This day in 1958: 20 year old Merle Haggard convicted of burglary

Today in 1958, twenty-year-old Merle Haggard was convicted of second-degree burglary, after a botched break-in attempt at a Bakersfield, California nightclub. He served two years and nine months in prison at San Quentin, and he really did “turn 21 in prison,” as he sang in his hit “Mama Tried.” He was paroled in 1960, and eventually pardoned by then-California governor, Ronald Reagan, in 1972.

 

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