John Lennon's Killer Denied Parole for the 10th Time
John Lennon’s killer remains behind bars.
On Thursday, Mark David Chapman was denied parole for the 10th time, according to the Associated Press.
Chapman, 63, went before New York’s parole board on Wednesday, two years after being denied parole in 2016.
He is currently serving 20-years-to-life in the Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1981.
In the denial decision obtained by the Associated Press, Chapman’s parole panel wrote that granting Chapman parole “would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law.”
“You admittedly carefully planned and executed the murder of a world-famous person for no reason other than to gain notoriety,” the statement continued.
“While no one person’s life is any more valuable than another’s life, the fact that you chose someone who was not only a world renown person and beloved by millions, regardless of the pain and suffering you would cause to his family, friends and so many others, you demonstrated a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life and the pain and suffering of others,” the statement said.
While in prison, Chapman admitted his crime was “selfish and evil.”
In a statement shared with PEOPLE from his 2016 parole hearing, he was commended for his admission, however, his “rehabilitative efforts” were
“outweighed by the premeditated and celebrity seeking nature of the crime.”
Four years prior, during a 2012 hearing, Chapman opened up about the tragic day and how Lennon autographed an album cover for him before the murder.
“I did try to tell myself to leave,” Chapman explained. “I’ve got the album, take it home, show my wife, everything will be fine. But I was so compelled to commit that murder that nothing would have dragged me away from that building.”
Lennon was shot in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, outside of their Manhattan Upper West side apartment. He was 40.
Chapman was also denied parole in 2014 and will be eligible for parole again in 2020.
Since Lennon’s death, his former bandmate Paul McCartney has made it his mission to keep his memory alive.
In March, the 75-year-old musician marched the streets of New York City protesting for the end of gun violence at March for Our Lives.
“One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here so it’s important to me,” McCartney told CNN in a live broadcast.
