John Lennon was killed over 40 years ago, and the man convicted for his murder, Mark David Chapman, yet again has been denied parole – for the 12th time.
Chapman shot and killed John Lennon on December 8, 1980, on Lennon’s way to his apartment on the Upper West Side with his wife. Ironically, Mark Chapman was a John Lennon fan. Just earlier in the day before the shooting, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his album, Double Fantasy, which had recently been released.
Transcripts of Mark Chapman’s latest interview with the parole board have not been made available to the public by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
It is known, however, that Chapman has repeatedly said how remorseful he was for his actions during previous parole hearings, and has said that as the years passed, he continued to feel regret and shame for his actions.
During his 2020 hearing, Chapman admitted that his actions were dreadful and disgraceful and that he would not complain if the parole board decided to deny him parole and leave him in prison for the rest of his life, which they did.
The 67-year-old was sentenced to 20-years life imprisonment and is serving his sentence at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Since 2000, Chapman has been eligible for parole, but the parole board has always decided against granting him parole, every two years, since he started applying.
In 2018, when Chapman was denied a parole for the 10th time, the panel refused to release him, stating that doing so would be incompatible with society’s welfare and safety, adding that killing Lennon in such a cold-blooded way, Chapman had shown a heartless and careless disregard for human life.
Since 2000, when Chapman became eligible for parole, Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, sends a letter every two years to the parole board without fail, requesting that her husband’s murderer not be granted freedom and that he remains in prison for the rest of his life, saying that she and her children would resort to constantly living in fear if Chapman was ever released.
Chapman’s 2012 parole hearing transcript stated that he had traveled from Hawaii to New York City to assassinate Lennon on December 8, 1980. He was a fan and had briefly met the Beatles star earlier that day. Speaking during his 2012 parole hearing, Chapman explained to the panel about his brief internal struggle of whether to go through with the murder or not.
He told the board that the murder wasn’t all cold-blooded, and he tried to tell himself to leave and go back home to his wife and show her his autographed album from the star. Chapman said that the selfish desire to commit that murder was so compelling that he could not help himself, and he had to see his plan through.
Chapman’s next parole opportunity will be in February 2024.
Good luck with that. Yoko, are you there?
