Mark David Chapman apologized to Yoko Ono last month for killing her husband John Lennon 40 years ago.
“It was an extremely selfish act,” he told a parole board. “I'm sorry for the pain that I caused to her [Ono]. I think about it all of the time.”
Chapman, who is serving 20 years to life at Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, NY (about two hours south of Toronto), was denied parole for the 11th time. Ono, who witnessed Lennon’s 1980 murder, had once again submitted a statement opposing parole.
This week, the public learned that Chapman told the board: “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.
“He 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.”
According to hearing documents obtained by the Press Association, Chapman added: “I assassinated him … 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.”
Chapman, 65, evidently didn’t expect the board to grant him parole. “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 said. (New York’s last execution was in 1963 and the state abolished the death penalty in 2007.)
“I deserve zero, nothing. If the law and you choose to leave me in here for the rest of my life, I have no complaint whatsoever.”
The parole board blasted Chapman as selfish and said the murder “stole the chance for future fans to experience the words of inspiration that this artist provided for millions of people … Your violent act caused devastation to not only family and former band members, but the world.”
Chapman is eligible for another hearing in August 2022.