Mark David Chapman: John Lennon’s killer denied parole for 12th time

Mark David Chapman, the man responsible for shooting and killing John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment, has been denied parole for the 12th time, New York corrections officials said.

Chapman, 67, went before a parole board at the end of August, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said, according to NBC News.

The transcript from the 12th occasion where the killer of the famed Beatle went before the board has not been publicly available, but in previous hearings the 67-year-old had expressed remorse at what he carried out on 8 December 1980.

During his previous hearing in 2020, he described his actions on that day more than 40 years ago as “despicable” and told the board that he would have “no complaint whatsoever” if they opted to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

“I was too far in,” he said during an earlier parole board hearing in 2018. “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.”

On the night in December that Chapman shot and killed Lennon, the famed British-born musician was returning home to his Upper West Side home with his wife, Yoko Ono. Earlier that day, the Beatle had signed a copy of the album Double Fantasy for the shooter.

Chapman had been lying in wait for the 40-year-old to return to his New York apartment and when he spotted him and his wife, he shot him four times.

The 67-year-old killer has been eligible for parole since 2000, and Lennon’s wife, Ono, 87, has openly opposed his release.

Though she hasn’t released any comment regarding this previous parole board hearing, in the previous one her attorney, Jonas Herbsman, said she submitted comments to the parole board, which he said are “consistent with the prior letters”.

Chapman, who married his wife 18 months after being imprisoned for the murder of the acclaimed artist, has received occasional visits from her at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City.

His next parole board hearing is set for February 2024.