John Lennon’s Killer Denied Parole for 10th Time
Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon, was denied parole for the 10th time on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Chapman shot and killed the former Beatle outside his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980.
Now 63, Chapman went before New York’s parole board earlier this week, and is currently serving 20-years-to-life in the Wende Correctional Facility in western New York.
He was denied parole two years ago, with the board noting in the decision that although Chapman described his own actions as “selfish and evil,” he should remain behind bars, in part because of the premeditated and “celebrity-seeking” nature of the crime. Chapman will be eligible to apply for parole again in 2020.
Chapman said he was obsessed with shooting Lennon so he could “be somebody.” He had previously considered shooting Johnny Carson or Elizabeth Taylor, but thought Lennon was more accessible because his Central Park apartment was less secluded. In 2014, when he applied for parole, Chapman told the board that he still receives letters about the pain he caused in his search for fame.
“I am sorry for causing that type of pain,” he said. “I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory.”
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