No Freedom for Mark David Chapman: 14th Parole Denial Since Lennon’s Murder

Near­ly 45 years after John Lennon’s shock­ing death, the man who killed him remains behind bars. Mark David Chap­man, now 70, has once again been denied parole, mark­ing the 14th time his request for release has been reject­ed. The deci­sion keeps him at the Green Haven Cor­rec­tion­al Facil­i­ty in Beek­man, New York, where he has served most of his life sen­tence.

The parole board made its deci­sion fol­low­ing an August 27 inter­view, accord­ing to records from the New York Depart­ment of Cor­rec­tions and Com­mu­ni­ty Super­vi­sion. Mark David Chap­man, who was first eli­gi­ble for parole in 2000, has faced con­sis­tent rejec­tion ever since. His crime on Decem­ber 8, 1980, out­side Lennon’s New York City apart­ment, remains one of the most infa­mous celebri­ty mur­ders in his­to­ry.

A Crime That Shat­tered Mil­lions

Accord­ing to Peo­ple, on that trag­ic night, Lennon returned home with his wife, Yoko Ono, after a record­ing ses­sion. Just hours ear­li­er, he had signed a copy of his album Dou­ble Fan­ta­sy for Chap­man. Lat­er that evening, Chap­man fatal­ly shot the 40-year-old musi­cian in front of The Dako­ta, their Man­hat­tan res­i­dence.

Mark David Chap­man plead­ed guilty to sec­ond-degree mur­der in 1981 and received a sen­tence of 20 years to life. Dur­ing past parole hear­ings, he expressed regret and admit­ted he killed Lennon pure­ly for fame. In a 2020 inter­view with the board, he described his actions as “self­ish,” “creepy,” and “despi­ca­ble,” even say­ing he believed he deserved the death penal­ty

Yoko Ono’s Con­tin­ued Oppo­si­tion

Lennon’s wid­ow, now 92, has strong­ly opposed Chapman’s release over the decades. She wrote to the parole board sev­er­al times, once call­ing it the “hard­est let­ter she’d ever writ­ten,” accord­ing to David Sheff’s biog­ra­phy. Her con­cerns extend beyond per­son­al grief. She has said Chapman’s release could reignite the fear, con­fu­sion, and chaos that fol­lowed Lennon’s mur­der, putting her and her fam­i­ly at risk.

Mark David Chap­man’s next parole hear­ing is sched­uled for Feb­ru­ary 2027. Until then, the man who end­ed Lennon’s life—and for­ev­er altered music history—will remain in prison, his name tied to one of the dark­est moments in rock and roll.