Mark David Chapman, the man who fatally shot John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980, has once again been denied parole, New York prison officials confirmed.
Chapman killed the former Beatle on Dec. 8, 1980, as Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning to their Upper West Side home. Hours earlier, Lennon had signed a copy of his album Double Fantasy for him.
Police arrested Chapman within minutes of the shooting, finding him sitting nearby with a copy of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Lennon was 40 years old.
While the transcript from his most recent hearing has not yet been released, Chapman has previously admitted he carried out the crime for notoriety. “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,” he told a parole board in 2021.
Chapman is serving a sentence of 20 years to life at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City. His next parole hearing is scheduled for February 2027.