Crime & Justice

John Lennon’s Assassin Denied Parole for the 12th Time

‘CALLOUS DISREGARD’

Mark David Chapman’s next opportunity for parole with be in February 2024.

GettyImages-1158571861_fiipbs
Kypros/Getty

The man who weaponized Catcher in the Rye to kill legendary music icon John Lennon was denied parole again in August, marking the 12th consecutive denial since his imprisonment in 1981. Mark David Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence for shooting Lennon outside the Beatle’s residence at The Dakota on Dec. 8, 1980. The 67-year-old has been up for parole every two years since 2000, when his 20-year minimum sentence was served, but he has been denied every time. At his 2018 hearing, the parole board said that Chapman’s release would be “incompatible with the welfare and safety of society” and that the convicted murder showed “a callous disregard” of human pain and suffering, NPR reported. Chapman, who was 25 at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty to the crime despite his attorneys’ attempts to draft an insanity defense. The next time he’s up for parole will be in February 2024.

Read it at NPR

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.