John Lennon’s murderer set for seventh parole hearing

Mark Chapman will appear before the parole board this week (August 20)

John Lennon‘s killer Mark Chapman will appear before a parole board this week.

Chapman, who is now 57, was jailed for 20-years-to-life for shooting Lennon outside The Beatles singer’s New York apartment in December 1980. Since 2000 he has been eligible for parole and has applied for release six times.

In 2010, the year of his last hearing, Chapman was denied parole as the New York state parole board deemed his release to be “inappropriate” and said that his “disregard” for human life relating to the 1980 incident was a major factor behind the decision.

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Chapman’s interview with parole officers will take place at Wende Correctional Facility, a max-security prison in New York. A decision on whether to release him will be made public by the end of the week, according to a prison spokesperson.

During his last parole interview, Chapman told the board he believed that “by killing John Lennon I would become somebody,” reports BBC news.

He stated: “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I made a horrible decision to end another human being’s life, for reasons of selfishness. I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.”

In the past, John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono has written to the prison authorities opposing the possible release of her husband’s killer. She has routinely sent the same letter every two years since 2000, when Chapman first became eligible for parole.

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