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Summary Chapman has come up for parole every two years since 2000 and has been turned down each time.
The man who shot and killed former Beatle John Lennon 32 years ago, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for a seventh time, New York States Department of Corrections said on Thursday.Chapman, 57, is serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon four times in the back outside the musicians New York City apartment building on December 8, 1980. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.Chapman has come up for parole every two years since 2000 and has been turned down each time.Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialize the tragic loss of life which you caused as a result of this heinous, unprovoked, violent, cold and calculated crime, parole board member Sally Thompson wrote to Chapman, the department said in a statement.A parole board hearing on Chapman was held earlier this week at Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Alden, New York, where he is being held, the department said.Lennons widow, Yoko Ono, remained steadfast in her objection to parole for her husbands killer, who she has said in the past posed a risk to her, Lennons two sons, the public and himself.Mrs. Lennons position remains consistent with the prior letters, said Onos attorney, Jonas Herbsman, in an e-mail to Reuters.In a 2000 letter to the parole board, Ono said Chapmans release would be a betrayal of justice and encourage others who feel inclined to murder celebrities to gain attention.
