John Lennon’s Killer Brags About The Crime At Latest Parole Hearing
John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman has been denied parole for the eighth time this past week. His testimony, more specifically his bragging, during his latest parole hearing would explain why.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Chapman couldn’t help but brag about the details that led to him killing John Lennon. Chapman recalled the ways he got from his Hawaii home to New York to plot and execute the crime against Lennon.
Last week, a parole board again denied him bail, most likely because he continues to brag about his role in Lennon’s death.
When asked why he killed Lennon, Chapman said, ‘That bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety was there,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t resist it.’
When asked about pulling off the crime itself, Chapman said “Incredible planning, absolutely, incredible stalking, very well thought out. I came I believe three months earlier to see if he was at the building, at the Dakota. I determined he was.”
Chapman was then asked how he could afford to travel from Hawaii to New York. Chapman stated he has sold a Norman Rockwell he and his wife owned to fund the trips he took. The money was to go to his father-in-law for holding, but Chapman pocketed the money himself.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Chapman states at one point, he had decided not to go through with killing Lennon.
“At that time I was able to turn it around… The thoughts subsided for awhile,” he said. “Then they started building again, and I made plans to come once again to New York and find him and kill [Lennon].”
Chapman also spoke openly of how he easily duped his wife into thinking he’d abandoned his murder plot.
“I convinced her that everything was okay and that I had thrown the gun away. I showed it to her and then told her I was going to throw it away which I didn’t and, you know, she didn’t know. She didn’t have a clue,” he said.
“I told her I was coming to New York to write a book, a children’s book, and that I kind of needed space to find myself and she believed me. She really did. I think if she would have thought otherwise she would have stopped somebody or called somebody,” the convict continued.
Chapman acknowledged that his own life might be at risk outside the lockup, but “I leave it in G(o)d’s hands. He kept Daniel in the lion’s den, he will keep me. I trust him.”
The three-parole board rejected Chapman’s application — which Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, opposed, as she has traditionally done — on the grounds that he likely could not return to freedom without returning to violence too.
He can apply again for parole in two years.
