John Lennon's Killer, Mark David Chapman, Wants To Live With Minister If Released
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) - In his most recent parole bid, the man who killed ex-Beatle John Lennon said that he hoped to live and work with an upstate New York minister if released.
Web Extra: Parole Hearing Transcript (pdf)
Mark David Chapman was denied parole for the seventh time last week, and a transcript of the hearing was released Wednesday. The 57-year-old can try for parole again in two years.
Chapman shot Lennon on December 8, 1980 outside the Dakota in Manhattan, the apartment building where the former Beatle lived. He was sentenced in 1981 to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
The parole board noted his positive efforts while in jail but said releasing him would trivialize the killing.
The former security guard from Hawaii said that his motivation for the killing was instant notoriety.
In transcript, Chapman said the shooting of Lennon was a very selfish act that he deeply regretted. "It was done for extremely selfish reasons that I regret to this day. I personally can't think of anything more selfish to do, to take somebody's life for your own aggrandizement and there were a lot of people in pain then and people that still want to know what happened now. That's why I'm sitting before you."
He also said he planned on living with the minister, who his wife met several years ago at a church function, because his wife was impressed by his deep commitment to Christ.
Chapman met the minister for the first time two days before the hearing.
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