John Lennon’s killer denied parole for 14th time
Sep 10, 2025, 11:20 AM
FILE - Flowers and a homemade tribute left by fans of the legendary musician adorn a memorial to John Lennon at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, one day before the 35th anniversary of his death, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The man who killed John Lennon outside the former Beatle’s Manhattan apartment building in 1980 has been denied parole for a 14th time, according to New York prison officials.
Mark David Chapman, 70, appeared before a parole board on Aug 27, and the decision was recently posted online by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Chapman fatally shot Lennon on the night of Dec. 8, 1980, as the musician and his wife, 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.
Chapman was arrested within minutes, sitting near the shooting scene with a copy of J.D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye.”
Lennon was 40 years old.
The transcript for the latest parole board hearing was not immediately available. But Chapman previously expressed remorse for the crime.
“I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life,” he told a parole board three years ago.
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.
His next parole hearing is in February 2027.
