The man who shot John Lennon outside his New York City apartment building in 1980 told a parole board he knew it was wrong to kill the beloved former Beatle – but was seeking fame and had “evil” in his “heart”.
Mark David Chapman made the comments to a board which denied him parole for a 12th time, citing his “selfish disregard for human life of global consequence”.
Chapman, in a transcript released by state officials on Monday under a freedom of information request, said the decision to kill Lennon was “my big answer to everything. I wasn’t going to be a nobody anymore”.
![Chapman after his arrest](https://www.irishnews.com/resizer/v2/HNOGKVJZQJJDNG6MNYMDVOJEZ4.jpg?auth=b873543f1c1a346e71845e8a10b732d2a823a90b9f63164d308cfb4928bf1cd0&width=800&height=1215)
“I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there,” Chapman told the board.
“I knew what I was doing and I knew it was evil. I knew it was wrong but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life.”
Chapman killed Lennon on the night of December 8 1980 as he and Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment.
Earlier that day, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released album Double Fantasy.
![Lennon’s last known picture before he was assassinated](https://www.irishnews.com/resizer/v2/RIC6DDHM5VNV7IGAT72U7NYDCA.jpg?auth=57a38b8fc11c04dce15680ec04169a0501f67e59d60643c593c5fd5126ea2d98&width=800&height=539)
Chapman, 67, told the board: “This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody and nothing was going to stop that.”
Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.
He has repeatedly expressed remorse during his parole hearings over the years.
“I hurt a lot of people all over the place and if somebody wants to hate me, that’s OK, I get it,” he said at the August 31 hearing.
![Beatles Sir Paul McCartney (left) and John Lennon](https://www.irishnews.com/resizer/v2/U5JR5F2M2BLMHAPZQYDKHD3C44.jpg?auth=a294e580e01baf764ea8390c8123f9a780ed3c8b5a17fba50ea24d7d3e2a3764&width=800&height=532)
In denying him release, the board said Chapman’s action left “the world recovering from the void of which you created”.
Chapman’s next parole board appearance is scheduled for February 2024.