Owning My Past Without Excuses by Mark Edgington

There are moments when life demands not a defense, but a reckoning.

This is one of those moments.

Some of you may have seen headlines about my past — specifically, a second-degree murder conviction when I was 17 years old. I’ve never hidden this part of my history, but I also never expected it to be turned into a spectacle. And while I have my own view of what happened that night — I’ve long maintained that I wasn’t the one who took a life — I’m not here to re-litigate the past, which I deeply regret.

I’m here to own it.

No Excuses

Let me be clear: I was involved in something terrible. I was in the wrong place, with the wrong people, and I didn’t stop something that should never have happened. That alone carries its own weight. I don’t blame the press for digging. I don’t blame people for asking questions. I don’t even blame those who turned away from me when the headlines resurfaced.

This isn’t about blame. It’s about responsibility.

I spent my twenties behind bars — formative years most people spend building careers, relationships, and families. I spent mine learning how to live with myself. Prison has a way of stripping a person down to the studs. There’s nowhere to hide from who you are. And what I found, in that place, was not a sense of victim-hood — but a persistent urge to become someone better.

The Long Work of Redemption

I didn’t walk out of prison a finished man. I walked out humbled. I walked out determined to live a life that might, in some small way, counterbalance the pain I had been a part of.

Since then, I’ve tried to build instead of destroy. I’ve tried to give instead of take. Whether through service, volunteering, mentoring at-risk youth, or simply showing up for people, I’ve poured my energy into being useful.

Not perfect. Just useful.

I never set out to run for office to erase my past. In fact, I ran because of it. Because I believe people who’ve seen the system from the inside — the justice system, the prison system, the social and moral consequences of bad choices — have something real to offer.

But let me be clear: I wasn’t seeking a redemption arc handed to me by politics. I’ve been walking that road for decades. Step by step. Mistake by mistake. Trying to earn back something you can’t ever fully reclaim — your name.

What I Believe Now

I believe in second chances because I’m living one.

I believe in personal responsibility, not performative regret.

I believe our system needs to listen more closely to those who’ve lived its consequences.

And I believe that real change doesn’t come from people with perfect records, it comes from people who’ve been tested.

I’m not asking anyone to forget what happened in 1989. I wouldn’t want them to. I’m asking them to see the full story — not just the headlines. The man I was, and the man I’ve tried becoming every day since.

Owning my past doesn’t mean excusing it. It means living with it. Building from it. And refusing to let it be the only thing that defines me.

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Mark Edgington

This article also appears on https://medium.com/@edgington.teams