John Lennon's Killer Mark David Chapman Denied Parole for the 11th Time

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Aug 28, 2020 04:14 AM EDT

John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman was again denied parole for the 11th time after being interviewed by the parole board on Aug. 19, according to correctional officials.

Chapman, who is now 65 years old, is serving a 20 years-to-life prison sentence at Wende Correctional Facility, east of Buffalo, New York, after pleading guilty to a second-degree murder.

Chapman shot and killed the former Beatle member on the night of Dec. 8, 1980. It was after Lennon autographed an album for him. Chapman previously said that he felt more shame as the years passed after the crime.

"I do remember having the thought of, 'Hey, you have got the album now. Look at this, he signed it, just go home.' But there was no way I was just going to go home," Chapman said during his parole in 2018.

Chapman's next parole hearing was set for August 2022.

Murder of Lennon

Lennon's killing shocked the music world. Lennon was a British-born artist, who adopted home of New York City. Every generations grew up listening to his music.

Lennon was 40 years old when he was killed. He had just emerged from a musical hiatus with the release of his "Double Fantasy" album when he went to a nighttime recording session on Dec. 8, 1980.

When Lennon returned to his home on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Chapman was waiting for him and shot him four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono.

Chapman became eligible for parole since 2000. Ono then quickly opposed his release. Ono's attorney, Jonas Herbsman, said she submitted comments to the parole board.

Chapman said at his previous parole interview in August 2018 that he is a changed man and a religious Christian. He said he would welcome freedom even though he did not deserve it.

Chapman has been a porter and wheelchair repairman at the prison hospital. He was also occasionally visited by his wife, whom he married about 18 months before the murder.

John Lennon's Killer

Chapman was said to have been angry for Lennon's public statement, such as being more popular than Jesus, although he was a Beatles fan.

Reports said that Chapman had contemplated killing other popular figures, like Ronald Reagan and Elizabeth Taylor, before Lennon's shooting happened.

Chapman also remained at the scene reading a novel by J.D. Salinger, entitled "The Catcher in the Rye." He was reportedly fixated with the novel, years leading up to the murder.

Chapman said during an interview with reporter Jim Gaines, "I really identified with him [protagonist Holden Caulfield] - is plight, his loneliness, his alienation from society."

Chapman once admitted that killing Lennon was nothing personal. Through a parole document, he once said that there was no feeling towards his son or his wife or himself.

He said that he was obsessed with one thing, and that was shooting Lennon to be somebody.

The day before Chapman did the murder, James Taylor met him at a subway station. He was eventually arrested and was sentenced to prison time with mental health treatment.