Culture

John Lennon's killer denied bail

by mchawk | August 12, 2008 at 02:15 pm

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8th December 1980. Just a normal day for John Lennon, in his adopted home of New York - a morning being photographed by Annie Liebovitz, then the plan of an evening in the recording studio. A mixing session curtailed forever, when Lennon was shot four times in the back as he left his apartment building, by a crazed fan who'd got Lennon's autograph earlier that night. Clearly a mere autograph wasn't enough, and now this man - Mark David Chapman - lives on in infamy.

He also lives on in New York's Attica Correctional Facility, as he has just been denied bail - for the 5th time.

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 today, 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."

Chapman, a former maintenance man from Hawaii, fired five shots outside Lennon's apartment building on December 8, 1980, hitting Lennon four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, and others.

Ono, who has previously written to 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.

Chapman's next appearance before the board is scheduled for August 2010.