Lennon Killer Tells Board 'I Deserve Prison'
A L B A N Y, N. Y., Oct. 11 -- Mark David Chapman told a parole board lastweek he deserves to be in prison for his “despicable” killing ofJohn Lennon and that he nearly skipped his parole hearing afterfinally realizing how much pain he caused Yoko Ono.
Chapman repeatedly told the three-member parole panel during a50-minute interview on Oct. 3 at Attica state prison that “I don’teven deserve to be here” — meaning alive — while Lennon is dead.
“I believe once you take a person’s life, there’s no way youcan make up for that. Period,” Chapman, 45, said. “And I’m luckyto be alive.”
The board denied parole for Chapman, who is serving a20-year-to-life sentence for murder. He will be eligible foranother parole hearing in October 2002.
Impact of Ono Comments
Chapman said he read comments by Ono, Lennon’s widow, over thesummer in which she said she began shaking uncontrollably afterChapman shot Lennon to death as the couple was about to enter theirManhattan apartment building in 1981.
“I think for the first time I really realized, you know, thepain that I caused,” Chapman said. “I mean, here’s a person thatcan’t control their body, and that really hit home. … I felt herpain then, and I can honestly say I didn’t even want to feel it upuntil then. It’s a horrible thing to, you know, realize what you’vedone.”
For a time after reading that, Chapman said he was going todecline to appear at his first parole hearing, but then changed hismind.
“You have a right to talk to me,” Chapman told the paroleboard. “You have a right to know what happened. We’re accountableto the people, to talk.”
‘I Have No Right to Ask …’Chapman also repeatedly stressed to the board that he was notseeking to be released.
“If you wanted to set me free, that’s up to you,” Chapmansaid. “I don’t have a right to ask you that, and I’m not goingto.”
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