Mark David Chapman, the man who killed former Beatle John Lennon outside the musician’s Manhattan apartment building in 1980, has been denied parole for the 14th time, New York prison officials said.
Chapman, 70, appeared before a state parole board on Aug. 27, and the denial was posted online by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The transcript of the latest hearing was not immediately available.
On the night of Dec. 8, 1980, Chapman fatally shot Lennon as the musician and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned to their Upper West Side apartment at the Dakota. Earlier that day Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his newly released album, Double Fantasy. Chapman was arrested within minutes of the shooting, sitting near the scene with a copy of J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. Lennon was 40 years old.
Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to state corrections records. The denial marks the latest in a string of parole board decisions refusing to release Chapman; his next parole hearing is scheduled for February 2027.
While the latest hearing transcript has not been posted, Chapman has previously addressed the board and expressed remorse for the killing. In a parole hearing three years ago he said, “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.”
Parole decisions for inmates serving long sentences are posted by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision when they are finalized. State records list Chapman’s sentence and facilities history but do not provide additional detail about the reasons behind the most recent denial.
Chapman’s case has remained a touchstone in discussions about celebrity, violence and parole. Lennon’s death prompted an outpouring of grief worldwide and renewed attention to the safety of public figures. Over four decades later, Chapman remains incarcerated under the terms of his sentence, and the parole board’s most recent decision will keep him in custody at least until his next scheduled review in 2027.