In December 1980 Mark David Chapman killed the musician John Lennon in Manhattan. The victim was a former member of the Beatles, one of the best known performers in the world. Chapman was charged with murder in the second degree. In June 1981 he changed his plea and pleaded guilty. In August 1981 the New York Supreme Court sentenced him to 20 years to life.
He first became eligible for parole in 2000. The state parole board has refused his release at each hearing since, the most recent denial coming on August 27, 2025.
From 1977 until October 1980 Chapman lived in Hawaii, where he worked at a medical center and later at a condominium complex in Honolulu. He left his work as a security guard in Honolulu and traveled to New York. He was 25 years old at the time of the offense.
Chapman was charged with second-degree murder, and the case was heard in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.
His defense attorney had prepared a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and had hoped to argue that Chapman could not fully grasp the consequences of his actions. Court-appointed experts had examined him before the plea and found him fit to stand trial for second-degree murder. On Monday, June 22, 1981, six months after the offense, Chapman instead told the court he was guilty of second-degree murder. His attorney objected to the change, and the plea was entered against the lawyer's advice. The justice presiding declared that Chapman had decided to plead guilty of his own free will.
The prosecution described the offense as carried out in a "cool, calm, and calculated manner." The prosecutor asked Chapman whether he had chosen the plea of his own free will, and he said that it was his decision. No trial followed; the court's remaining task was the sentence, which was set for August.
At the sentencing hearing in August 1981 the defense called two psychiatrists. The justice interrupted the testimony of the second to remind the court that the question of his sanity had already been settled. The prosecutor argued that Chapman had killed in an attempt to share in the victim's fame.
The court imposed a sentence of 20 years to life. Chapman announced a vow of silence at the hearing and was held in custody awaiting transfer to the state prison system.
He was eligible to appear before the parole board for the first time in 2000, and release since then has depended on the board's decision at each appearance.
Chapman has appeared before the New York State Board of Parole roughly every two years since 2000, and each time release has been refused. The board has stated its reasons in a short written determination each time; the transcripts of the interviews have usually been released later.
The first hearing took place on October 3, 2000. Three board members interviewed him in a closed hearing for 50 minutes, and about four hours later he received a one-page determination that began: "Parole is denied." The board called the offense "calculated and unprovoked" and said that it had been "apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged." It wrote that "during your parole hearing, this panel noted your continued interest in maintaining your notoriety," and that release would "deprecate the seriousness of the crime and serve to undermine respect for the law." It acknowledged his "exemplary disciplinary record" but said that because he was held in protective housing, "you have been unable to avail yourself of anti-violence and/or anti-aggression programming." Chapman was 45. Before the hearing the victim's widow had written to the board, and a state senator who chaired the Senate's crime victims and corrections committee had asked the board to deny release. The next hearing was set for two years later.
On August 12, 2008 two board members interviewed him for 36 minutes in his fifth hearing. The board denied release "due to concern for the public safety and welfare" and said that it would "not be in the best interest of the community." Chapman told the board that he had planned and carried out the killing "with an essentially clear mind." The parole officials noted that he had not been disciplined since 1994. At that hearing he said he was ashamed and sorry for what he had done and understood more deeply the value of human life; he said he had sought notoriety to offset a feeling of failure.
His sixth hearing was held on September 7, 2010, after a hearing planned for the previous month was postponed by the parole officials, who said they were awaiting "additional information." The board denied release "due to concern for the public safety and welfare." Chapman was 55. At his previous hearing, he had said: "I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies." The widow opposed his release.
At his seventh hearing, on August 22, 2012, a three-member panel again refused release. The decision stated: "Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law," and added that "parole shall not be granted for good conduct and program completions alone." In May 2012 he had been transferred from one maximum-security state facility to another. He was in protective custody and his disciplinary record was good.
At his eighth hearing, in August 2014, the board said that release "would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law" and that "if released at this time, there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without again violating the law." It also found that release would be "incompatible with the welfare of society." Chapman told the board that he had "extremely selfish motives for my own self-glory," that he was "sorry for being such an idiot," and that he had chosen "the wrong way for glory." He said he was sorry for causing that type of pain to those still hurting over the death. He added: "Jesus has helped me to see that he loves me, and that is what has made the difference in my life."
In August 2016, at his ninth hearing, the panel again found that his release "would be incompatible with the welfare of society." It acknowledged his acceptance of responsibility, his network of support and his institutional record and rehabilitative efforts, and said that these were outweighed by the "premeditated and celebrity seeking nature of the crime." Chapman had described the crime as "premeditated, selfish and evil." His next hearing was set for August 2018.
At his tenth hearing, in August 2018, the board wrote: "You admittedly carefully planned and executed the murder of a world-famous person for no reason other than to gain notoriety," and cited a "callous disregard for the sanctity of human life." It credited his clean prison record since 1994 and rated him a low risk of reoffending, but wrote that none of this "out weighs the gravity of your actions or the serious and senseless loss of life you have caused." It added that others might try to harm Chapman out of anger, revenge or a desire for notoriety. The transcript was released on November 15, 2018.
At that hearing Chapman said that he felt "more and more shame" every year. "Thirty years ago I couldn't say I felt shame and I know what shame is now," he said. He called the act "senseless," and said that the pain he had caused would last "even after I die." He was 63. In prison he worked cleaning, painting and stripping floors, and said that he now devoted himself to promoting the power of Jesus to change lives.
On August 19, 2020 he appeared for the eleventh time and was denied again, and the state did not immediately disclose its reasons. At that hearing he called his actions "despicable" and said that he would have "no complaint whatsoever" if he stayed in prison for life. He was 65.
On August 31, 2022 he appeared before the board for the twelfth time. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced that he was "denied release with a hold of 18 months", with his next appearance set for February 2024. The board described the murder as a "selfish disregard for human life of global consequence" and said it left "the world recovering from the void of which you created." Chapman was 67. The corrections department released the transcript on November 7, 2022 after a request under the state's freedom of information law.
In the transcript he said: "I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much." He called the act his "big answer to everything" and said that he "wasn't going to be a nobody" any longer. He said: "I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there," and "I hurt a lot of people all over the place and if somebody wants to hate me, that's OK, I get it."
On August 27, 2025 he appeared again, at the age of 70, and was denied parole for the fourteenth time. His next parole eligibility date is February 2027. As of that decision he was held in a New York state prison.
No point of the conviction is disputed: it rests on his own plea of guilty, entered in court in June 1981.
December 1980: the victim is killed in Manhattan.
June 22, 1981: Chapman pleads guilty to second-degree murder in the New York Supreme Court, Manhattan.
August 1981: sentenced to 20 years to life.
October 3, 2000: first parole hearing; denied.
August 12, 2008: denied at his fifth hearing.
September 7, 2010: denied at his sixth hearing.
August 22, 2012: denied at his seventh hearing.
August 2014: denied at his eighth hearing.
August 2016: denied at his ninth hearing.
August 2018: denied at his tenth hearing; transcript released November 15, 2018.
August 19, 2020: denied for the eleventh time.
August 31, 2022: denied for the twelfth time, with a hold of 18 months; transcript released November 7, 2022.
August 27, 2025: denied for the fourteenth time.
February 2027: next parole eligibility.