The New York State Division of Parole turned down Mark David
Chapman’s request, citing concerns “about the disregard you displayed for the
norms of our society and the sanctity of human life,” according to a report by
CNN.
The three-member parole board panel concluded in written
comments that Chapman’s “discretionary release remains inappropriate at this
time and incompatible with the welfare of the community.” The New York Daily
News said the parole division received 75 letters arguing against Chapman’s release,
including one from Lennon’s 77-year-old widow, Yoko Ono, who said last month
she believed Chapman posed a risk to her, Lennon’s two sons, the public and
even to himself.
Her lawyer Peter Shukat told the newspaper that Ono was “very
pleased” to hear of the decision to keep Chapman incarcerated.
Chapman, 55, is serving a jail sentence of 20 years to life
for shooting Lennon four times in the back outside the musician’s New York
apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
He has served 29 years of his sentence at a maximum-security
facility in Attica, New York. For the past 20 years he has been allowed
conjugal visits with his wife Gloria whom he married in 1979. He has come up
for parole every two years since 2000.
