CHICAGO (AP) – A young Lebanese immigrant awaiting sentencing for placing a backpack he thought held a bomb near Chicago’s Wrigley Field wrote a letter to the judge saying he drank “all day, every day” for months before the would-be attack.

In a 7-page letter to U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, Sami Samir Hassoun apologizes and insists he has worked hard at becoming a better person, including by taking yoga instruction in jail.

The letter was included in a defense filing this week. Hassoun, in custody since his 2010 arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced April 5.