Image by Stuart Hampton from Pixabay
The man who shot and killed music legend John Lennon outside his apartment block in New York City back in 1980, Mark David Chapman, has been denied parole from prison for the 11th time.
Authorities in New York State have confirmed Chapman’s latest appearance before the parole board at Wende Correctional Facility near the city of Buffalo, where he is incarcerated.
No additional details as to the reasons for the decision have been made available. Chapman is eligible to make another parole application in 2022.
Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, has consistently opposed parole for the convicted killer, saying he may pose a threat to her and the couple’s two sons, Julian and Sean, if he is released.
According to ABC News in the US, the 65-year-old has been in prison since August 1981, after he pleaded guilty to shooting the Beatles star outside his apartment in Manhattan on December 8, 1980.
Chapman received a sentence of 20 years to life and first became eligible to apply for parole in 2000. But on each occasion it has been denied.
A report in the London-based Guardian newspaper quotes Ono’s lawyer, Jonas Herbsman, as saying she submitted comments to the parole board that were “consistent with the prior letters” of opposition and concern.
In an interview several years ago, Chapman said he chose Lennon because “he seemed more accessible to me” as his apartment building wasn’t as “cloistered” as other celebrities’. “If it wasn’t Lennon, it could have been someone else,” he said.
Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back and, according to Wikipedia, remained at the scene reading J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye until he was arrested by police. He planned to cite the novel as his manifesto.
Chapman also contemplated killing other public figures, including another Beatle, Paul McCartney, and one-time US President, Ronald Reagan. He had no prior criminal convictions.
This December will mark the 40th anniversary of Lennon’s murder.