John Lennon's killer denied release

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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John Lennon's killer has been denied parole for a fourth time because of the 'bizarre nature' of his crime.

Mark Chapman, 51, must remain at Attica Correctional Facility in New York for at least two more years for gunning down the former Beatle outside his Manhattan apartment building on December 8 1980.

During a 16-minute hearing, a three-member panel at Attica made the following judgement: "The panel remains concerned about the bizarre nature of this premeditated and violent crime."

It continued: "While the panel notes your satisfactory institutional adjustment, due to the extremely violent nature of the offence, your release would not be in the best interest of the community."

The decision came one day after what would have been Lennon's 66th birthday.

Chapman has been in prison for 25 years. He became eligible for release after serving 20 years of a maximum life sentence.

When Chapman killed Lennon, the 25-year-old with a history of mental illness did not even run away from the scene.

Instead he stood alongside the Dakota Building where Lennon lived with Yoko Ono, holding a copy of JD Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye and an LP Lennon had signed for him hours earlier.

In the months leading up to committing the murder Chapman had become increasingly angry at his former idol Lennon, believing he had turned into the worst kind of person, a "phoney".

"Phoney" was a term repeatedly used by Salinger's anti-hero Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye.

Chapman saw the former Beatle as a sell-out who had betrayed the idealism of his youth, and resented his attitudes towards religion.

His first meeting with Lennon came in the afternoon, just hours before the fatal shots were fired, when he left his apartment to go to a recording studio.

Chapman thrust a copy of Lennon's latest album, Double Fantasy, into the musician's hands. The musician signed it and got into a car.

When Lennon returned that evening, Chapman did not miss another opportunity and fired into Lennon's back.

Since killing Lennon, Chapman claimed the mental instabilities that led him to commit his infamous crime had cleared within seven or eight years.

In jail, qualified as a law clerk and dispensing legal advice to other inmates, Chapman was said to be a model prisoner.

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