Mark David Chapman

Mark David Chapman is a prison inmate at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, where he is serving time for the murder of Beatles band member John Lennon.http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20024969-10391698.html Chapman gunned down Lennon in Manhattan on December 8, 1980.http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2008/12/08/2008-12-08_fans_to_mark_anniversary_of_john_lennons.html

Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life for murder, and mandated to a federal penitentiary, where he now resides.http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/mark-david-chapman-inside-the-mind-of-john-lennons-killer/19751619 As of December 2010, he has applied for parole six times, all of which have been denied.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1309862/John-Lennon-killer-Mark-David-Chapman-denied-parole-sixth-time.html Chapman is eligible to apply for parole again in 2012.http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20024969-10391698.html John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, has opposed all of Chapman’s bids for early release from prison.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_yoko_not_in_my_life_ono_he_wont_lennon_widow_says_of_parole.html

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon met Chapman in the daytime and autographed a record for him.http://articles.cnn.com/2009-12-06/opinion/greene.lennon_1_john-lennon-dakota-yoko-ono?_s=PM:OPINION Later that evening, Chapman waited in front of the Dakota building for Lennon to return home.http://articles.cnn.com/2009-12-06/opinion/greene.lennon_1_john-lennon-dakota-yoko-ono?_s=PM:OPINION Reportedly under the delusion that Lennon was a phony and should die, Chapman shot the musician numerous times in the back with a Charter Arms .38 pistol.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_2536000/2536321.stmhttp://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/chapman/6.html Chapman's obsession with J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye is rumored to have been the motivation behind the murder.http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/chapman/6.html

Mark David Chapman's wife, Gloria Hiroko Chapman, visits him at least once a year at the Attica Correctional Facility.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_lennon_slayer_all_i_need_is_love.html During the visit, they are allowed to spend 44 consecutive hours alone for conjugal visits.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_lennon_slayer_all_i_need_is_love.html Chapman works in the prison library and assists with cleaning.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_yoko_not_in_my_life_ono_he_wont_lennon_widow_says_of_parole.html For his protection, he lives apart from the general prison population.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/07/2010-09-07_john_lennon_killer_mark_david_chapman_denied_parole_for_sixth_time.html

At his parole hearing in September of 2010, Chapman claimed responsibility for his crime, stating that his newly found Christian religion has changed his perspective.http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_lennon_slayer_all_i_need_is_love.html Chapman stated to the parole board, “"I felt that by killing John Lennon, I would become somebody and instead of that, I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.”http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/17/2010-09-17_lennon_slayer_all_i_need_is_love.html The parole board denied his release, writing that, ““the disregard you displayed for the norms of our society and the sanctity of human life when, after careful planning, you traveled to New York for the sole purpose of killing John Lennon. Release remains inappropriate at this time and incompatible with the welfare of the community.”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/nyregion/08lennon.html?_r=1&ref=mark_david_chapman

• "I have regrets. I'm sorry for what I did. I realize now that I really ended a man's life. Then, he was an album cover to me. He didn't exist, even when I met him earlier that day when he signed the album for me, which he did very graciously. And he was not a phony, by the way. He was very patient, and he was very cordial and he asked me if there was anything else. So if that didn't register -- and I also met his son that day. If that didn't register that he was a human being, then I wasn't perceiving him as such. I just saw him as a two-dimensional celebrity with no real feelings."—Mark David Chapmanhttp://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0009/30/lklw.00.html

• "I just saw his face and it seemed like it all came together, the solution to my problem of being confused and feeling like a nobody," he said. "And I said, 'Wouldn't it be something if I killed this individual? I would become famous, I would be something other than a nobody.' And that was my reasoning at the time."—Mark David Chapmanhttp://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/mark-david-chapman-inside-the-mind-of-john-lennons-killer/19751619

• "When we were in the car, I said, 'Shall we go to a restaurant or something before we go home?'. He said, 'No, I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep'. He is probably asleep by now, I was thinking, but he wanted to see Sean, so...But, you know, even if we went to the restaurant, (it) doesn't mean anything. It wouldn't, you know, make us avoid anything horrible. And, uh... and the car stopped, and we got out of the car. It was really... it was really terrible."—Yoko Ono, recalling John Lennon's final hourshttp://www.postchronicle.com/news/entertainment/tittletattle/article_212336754.shtml