The man who shot John Lennon outside his New York City apartment building in 1980 told a parole board he knew it was wrong to kill the beloved former Beatle – but was seeking fame and had “evil” in his “heart”.
Mark David Chapman made the comments to a board which denied him parole for a 12th time, citing his “selfish disregard for human life of global consequence”.
Chapman, in a transcript released by state officials on Monday under a freedom of information request, said the decision to kill Lennon was “my big answer to everything. I wasn’t going to be a nobody anymore”.
“I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there,” Chapman told the board.
“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.”
Chapman killed Lennon on the night of December 8 1980 as he and Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment.
Earlier that day, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released album Double Fantasy.
Chapman, 67, told the board: “This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody and nothing was going to stop that.”
Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.
He has repeatedly expressed remorse during his parole hearings over the years.
“I hurt a lot of people all over the place and if somebody wants to hate me, that’s OK, I get it,” he said at the August 31 hearing.
In denying him release, the board said Chapman’s action left “the world recovering from the void of which you created”.
Chapman’s next parole board appearance is scheduled for February 2024.
