John Lennon’s Killer Denied Parole Again, for 12th Time

Mark David Chapman on Jan. 31, 2018. New York State Department of Corrections via AP

ALBANY, N.Y.—The man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980 has been denied parole for a 12th time, New York corrections officials said Monday.

Mark David Chapman, 67, appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Chapman shot and killed Lennon on the night of Dec. 8, 1980, as Lennon and Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment. Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released album, “Double Fantasy,” earlier that day.

A large portrait of John Lennon at the John Lennon Museum in Saitama city, suburban Tokyo, on Dec. 8, 2006, to commemorate former Beatles's murder on this day in New York in 1980. Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to online state corrections records.

He is next due to appear before the parole board in February 2024.