The man that killed John Lennon in 1980, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole yet again.
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Chapman’s latest parole hearing took place at the end of August. Though no transcripts of the hearing have been made available, the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision have said in a statement, “Following an interview with the Board of Parole on August 31, 2022, Mr. Chapman was denied release with a hold of 18 months. His next appearance date is scheduled for February 2024.” This will be the 12th time Chapman’s attempt at parole has been denied.
Chapman shot and killed Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment on December 8, 1980. Chapman plead guilty to second-degree murder the following year and was sentenced to 20 years to life. His first parole attempt was in 2000 and he has had a hearing every two years since.
Per The Associated Press, Chapman has expressed remorse for killing Lennon, feeling “more and more shame” for his crime over the years. During his last parole interview, he said, “I assassinated him … because he was very, very, very famous and that’s the only reason, and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory. Very selfish.”
Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, has time and again argued against Chapman’s release, expressing fears for both her own safety and that of Lennon’s sons, Julian and Sean. “One thing I think is that he did it once, he could do it again, to somebody else,” Ono once told The Daily Beast. “It could be me, it could be Sean, it could be anybody, so there is that concern.”
During his last hearing, the board cited threats to Chapman’s own life as a reason for denying his parole. They ruled that “someone may attempt or succeed in harming you out of anger and or revenge, or for the same reason that you did John Lennon, to assume notoriety.”
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
