John Lennon Killer Admits He Knew The Deed Was ‘Evil’ But He ‘Wanted Too Much Fame’ | News from the United States


The man who shot John Lennon told a probation commission that he knew it was wrong to kill the Beatle, but he was looking for fame and had “evil” in his heart.

Mark Chapman said he had “a selfish disregard for human life of global consequences”.

The council denied him parole for the twelfth time.

Chapman, in a transcript released Monday by New York officials under a freedom of information request, said his decision to kill Lennon was “my big answer to everything. I would no longer be a nobody.”

FILE - Singer John Lennon appears during a press conference at Hotel Americana on May 13, 1968 in New York.  Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980, was denied parole for the twelfth time, New York correction officials said Monday, September 12, 2022.  (AP Photo, File)
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John Lennon in New York in May 1968

He told the council: “I won’t blame anyone or anyone else for taking me there.

“I knew what I was doing and I knew it was evil. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted fame so much that I was willing to give it all and take a human life.”

A mugshot of Mark David Chapman, who shot and killed John Lennon, is displayed on the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death at the NYPD in New York on December 8, 2005. Chapman is currently imprisoned in Attica State Prison in New York York, who is serving a 20-year life sentence after pleading guilty to second degree murder.  REUTERS / Pantry
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Chapman 42 years ago, after the shooting

Chapman killed Lennon on the night of December 8, 1980 while he and Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment.

Earlier that day, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released Double Fantasy album.

The .38 caliber pistol used by Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon, seen on the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death, is held by the NYPD in New York on December 8, 2005. Chapman is currently imprisoned in Attica State Prison in New York. , who is serving a 20-year life sentence after pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder.  REUTERS / Chip Est
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The .38 caliber pistol used by Chapman to kill John Lennon, was exhibited on the 25th anniversary of the murder
Lennon on the microphone, playing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool with the Beatles in 1961
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Lennon on the microphone, playing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool with the Beatles in 1961

Chapman, 67, told the board, “This was the evil in my heart. I wanted to be someone and nothing would stop it.”

Chapman is serving a life sentence at 20 to life in prison at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Hudson Valley in upstate New York.

A woman lights candles explaining John on a mosaic circle with the word Imagine on it to honor the late John Lennon at Strawberry Fields in Central Park in New York on December 8, 2005. Former Beatles member Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his apartment 25 years ago.  REUTERS / Keith Bedford
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A Lennon memorial can be found in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields in New York City

He has repeatedly expressed remorse during his probation hearings over the years.

“I’ve hurt a lot of people all over the place and if anyone wants to hate me, that’s okay, I get it,” he said in an August hearing.

Denying him release, the council said Chapman’s action left “the world recovering from the void you created.”

The next appearance of Chapman’s probation commission is scheduled for February 2024.

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