Mark David Chapman, the man who shot dead Beatles star John Lennon, has been denied parole for a 12th time, New York corrections officials said Monday.
Chapman, 67, was told he will remain behind bars after he appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
He was convicted in 1981 to between 20 years to life in prison for shooting Lennon five times outside his Manhattan apartment building on December 8, 1980.
The legendary singer-songwriter had been walking with his wife, Yoko Ono, to their Central Park apartment building in New York when he was gunned down.
Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released album, “Double Fantasy,” earlier that day.
File/John Lennon and Yoko Ono listen in on the Watergate hearings on Capitol Hill in 1973. (UPI)
File/Original Caption/ A police van with Mark David Chapman inside leaves Manhattan Criminal Court 12/9 after Chapman was arraigned on second-degree murder charge in the 12/8 slaying of former Beatle John Lennon. The 25-year-old suspect was ordered to undergo 30 days of psychiatric tests at Bellevue Hospital, where he was to be segregated and placed under a suicide watch. (Getty)
AP reports state officials have yet to make transcripts of Chapman’s latest board interview available, but he has repeatedly expressed remorse in previous parole hearings.
Chapman called his actions “despicable” during his hearing in 2020, and said he would have “no complaint whatsoever” if they chose to leave him in prison for the rest of his life.
“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,” Chapman said then.
Lennon’s wife has repeatedly demanded that Chapman not be released from jail.
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