Dec. 8 will mark the 30th anniversary of the day Mark David Chapman shot Lennon to death outside the legendary Beatle’s famed Dakota apartment building as he and wife Yoko Ono returned home from a recording session.
Chapman, who once said Lennon would have forgiven him, is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence in upstate Attica prison.
He is scheduled to be interviewed by a three-member parole board panel during the week of Aug. 9.
This will be his sixth bid for parole.
Chapman’s release has been consistently opposed by Lennon’s widow, who has again sent a letter to the parole board, her lawyer, Peter Shukat said.
“Her position has not changed,” Shukat said.
He refused to say whether it’s the same letter submitted every two years since Chapman first became eligible for parole in 2000.
In that letter, Ono wrote that if Chapman is released, “I am afraid it will bring back the nightmare, the chaos and confusion once again. Myself and John’s two sons would not feel safe for the rest of our lives.”
She also wrote that Chapman, now 55, would not be safe if allowed back on the streets.
Because of his notoriety, Chapman is housed in a special unit apart from the general population. He works as a porter, cleaning up offices, and assists inmates in one of Attica’s law libraries.
He also is allowed conjugal visits for up to 44 consecutive hours with his wife, who lives in Hawaii, under the “family reunion program” he has been in since at least 1989. Sources have said she visits, on average, once a year – sometimes more.
Despite some early minor prison violations, Chapman’s record has been clean since 1994.
Robert Gangi, head of the prisoners’ rights group, Correctional Association of America, doubts Chapman will be released because of the public outrage it would cause.
“Given that he commited a high profile crime and he killed one of the most famous and most beloved figures literally in the world, it’s highly unlikely three parole commissioners would vote to grant him release,” Gangi said.
Chapman in previous parole interviews has blamed jealousy and emotional problems for his decision to kill his onetime idol, who would be 70 this October.
