ALBANY, N.Y. — John Lennon’s killer said he was seeking “glory” when he shot the Beatles star in cold blood 40 years ago but now thinks he deserved the death penalty for his “despicable act,” according to a transcript of his most recent parole hearing obtained by the Daily News.
Mark David Chapman, who shot Lennon four times outside of his Upper West Side apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, was denied parole for the 11th time last month.
During his appearance before the State Parole Board, Chapman expressed remorse for his actions that night, saying he killed the famed songwriter because he was “angry and jealous.”
“I just want to reiterate that I’m sorry for my crime,” he said. “I have no excuse. This was for self-glory. I think it’s the worst crime that there could be to do something to someone that’s innocent.”
Chapman also apologized to his victim’s widow, artist Yoko Ono, as he attempted to explain his reasoning for assassinating Lennon.
“I just want her to know that she knows her husband like no one else and knows the kind of man he was. I didn’t,” he said. “I didn’t kill him because of his character or the kind of man he was. He was a family man. He was an icon. He was someone that spoke of things that now we can speak of and it’s great.”
Ono has repeatedly asked that her husband’s murderer remain behind bars.
The members of the board agreed, telling Chapman in their decision that they were not swayed by his attempt at atonement and found his meditations on glory troubling.
“This panel finds your statement disturbing. Your actions represented an evil act,” they wrote. “The fact that today, almost 40 years later, you can still speak of what you did as something that you felt was a positive and in your mind gave you ‘glory’ at the time, is disturbing for this panel.”
Chapman, who is serving out his sentence in a protective unit at the upstate Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, also gave the board a look at his daily life in jail and how the coronavirus pandemic has affected his duties as a porter.
“I have to wear a mask, hand sanitizer. We have to use this very strong bleach and things have changed a lot,” he said.
He also noted that his wife, Gloria Abe, recently moved from Hawaii to upstate New York to be closer to him.
The 65-year-old said he has access to an electronic tablet that allows him to keep up on the news, email, send pictures and call his wife, as well as read books.
“I have 300 books on my tablet, sir,” he responded to a question about the device.
While he didn’t say whether it’s still on his reading list, Chapman did discuss his obsession with J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher In The Rye,” which he was found reading as he waited for cops to arrest him the night of Lennon’s murder.
Chapman said he could identify with Holden Caulfield, the main character, and his “isolation, loneliness.”
“I got very wrapped up in that book,” he said.
Chapman, serving a 20-years-to-life sentence, said he understands the complications that would come with release and told the board he would have “no complaint whatsoever” if he remained behind bars the rest of his life.
“I deserve zero, nothing. At the time I deserved the death penalty,” he said. “When you knowingly plot someone’s murder and know it’s wrong and you do it for yourself, that’s a death penalty right there, in my opinion.”
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