The man who gunned down the late Fab Four member admits he deserved death penalty while saying, 'Some people disagree with me, but everybody gets a second chance now.'
- Sep 23, 2020
AceShowbiz - Mark David Chapman, the man who killed The Beatles star John Lennon, has apologised to the singer's widow, Yoko Ono, for his "despicable act."
The 65-year-old was denied parole for an 11th time following a hearing last month (Aug20), and has been locked up since murdering the beloved Imagine hitmaker in Manhattan in December, 1980.
Explaining he thinks about his crime all the time and accepts he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, Chapman, who shot Lennon four times outside the Dakota apartment building in the Upper West Side, as Ono looked on, reflected on the killing during the hearing.
In a transcript obtained by the PA news agency under freedom of information laws, it is revealed the board rejected his release on the grounds it "would be incompatible with the welfare of society."
During the hearing, Chapman said he killed Lennon, 40, for "glory" and admitted he deserves the death penalty, sharing, "I just want to reiterate that I'm sorry for my crime. 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 added, "He (Lennon) was extremely famous. 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."
"I assassinated him, to use your word earlier, because he was very, very, very famous and that's the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory, very selfish," he explained. "I want to add that and emphasise that greatly. It was an extremely selfish act. I'm sorry for the pain that I caused to her (Ono). I think about it all of the time."
Asked if justice had been served, Chapman said "I deserve zero, nothing," adding he should have been given the death penalty following the killing.
"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," he stated. "Some people disagree with me, but everybody gets a second chance now."
"He was a human being and I knew I was going to kill him. That alone says you deserve nothing and if the law and you choose to leave me in here for the rest of my life, I have no complaint whatsoever."
Chapman is next eligible for parole in two years.
