John Lennon's Killer Denied Parole Again
Mark David Chapman Deemed A Threat By Parole Board For 5th Time
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This undated file photo shows John Lennon. (AP Photo, file)
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Mark David Chapman is shown as a member of a YMCA group at Fort Chaffee, Ark., in 1975. Chapman was convicted of shooting former Beatle John Lennon in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980. (CBS/AP)
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A makeshift peace sign of flowers lies on top John Lennon's "Strawberry Fields" memorial in New York's Central Park, Dec. 7, 2005. (AP)
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Interactive The Beatles Follow The Fab Four from 1964, when Ed Sullivan introduced them to America, to Paul McCartney's 2002 wedding to Heather MIlls.
Mark David Chapman will remain in New York's Attica Correctional Facility for at least two more years for gunning down the former Beatle nearly three decades ago on a Manhattan sidewalk.
Chapman, 53, has been in prison for 27 years since pleading guilty to the murder, which he has said he committed to gain attention. He became eligible for parole in 2000 after serving 20 years of a maximum life sentence.
In a one-page decision issued after Chapman's appearance Tuesday, parole board members said they denied his parole "due to concern for the public safety and welfare."
The parole board said the although Chapman has had a clean disciplinary record since 1994, he told board members during the hearing that he planned and conducted Lennon's killing "with an essentially clear mind."
Considering that, the board said, his release "would not be in the best interest of the community."
A transcript of the 36-minute hearing, conducted by two parole board members, was not immediately available.
Chapman, a former maintenance man from Hawaii, fired five shots outside Lennon's apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, hitting Lennon four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, and others.
Ono, who has previously written the parole board arguing against Chapman's release, did not offer any testimony in his latest hearing.
"She was very pleased at the division of parole's decision," said her lawyer, Peter Shukat. He declined to comment further.
Fifty people sent letters and 1,100 others signed a petition opposing his release, while three wrote in urging that he be set free, said Heather Groll, a state Parole Division spokeswoman.
Chapman's next appearance before the board is scheduled for August 2010.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 29 CommentsI''m not a Yoko Ono fan by any means but when I watch her on TV talking about John''s murder I do feel for her. They were really in love. About as close as a couple can be. Like Nancy & Ronnie.
The Beatles landed at JFK on the exact date of my 13th birthday. You might say that I spent my entire teenage years with the Beatles.
By the way, I''m looking for a nice, reasonably-priced Rickenbacker 325. Would anyone have any info on that?
I was fortunate enough to be stationed at the Marine Barracks in London in the early 60s and enjoyed the Beatles for over two years and flew back to the States just three days before The Beatles stormed into NYC to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I brought back 10 copies of the %u2018Meet The Beatles%u2019 album on the original Vee Jay label with the blank back (no song titles%u2026very rare). Had I kept them unopened until now, my accountant would be making a fortune just to count my money, but alas, my nieces and their girlfriends got `em all (my oldest niece got a second copy (mine) as she took a knife to the first one I gave her when she heard a rumor that Paul McCartney was getting engaged)
Living on the west side, I always thought there would be another time.
At the time John Lennon was killed, I was picking up a friend just a block from the Dakota to take him to La Guardia Airport. We noticed nothing as I took the Park Transverse by the entrance to Lennon%u2019s building, almost getting to the Triboro Bridge before hearing the first report. He was pronounced dead before we reached the airport.
However, to say, even as a joke, that MDC would have been a "hero" if he''d shot her instead is ignorant and sick.
I''m glad MDC will not be released. He shouldn''t be. He robbed the world of a great talent.
RIP John.
I believe that the corrections department probably considered the idea that Mark David Chapman may be a candidate as a victim of a violent crime or homicide if released.
There is a problem in our country with attention addiction and the crazy things people do to get it. Authority defiance syndrome is contagious and rampant in our pop culture. Mixing authority defiance and attention addiction invites violence.
The citizens of the USA created that problem and the citizens of the USA have to solve it.
he would have been a HERO,,,
I never had a favorite Beatle. They all had so much talent in their own right i admired each and evedry one of them.
keep your day job, hon.
Sorry, bud, but you got what you deserved by mercilessly slaughtering an innocent person.
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See all 29 Comments