New York’s parole board has denied Mark David Chapman latest bid for freedom, declaring that the freeing the man who murdered Beatles great John Lennon would be “incompatible with the welfare and safety of society.”
The decision by Parole Board members Marc Coppola and Otis Cruse means Chapman will remain in jail until at least 2020, when he is next again eligible for parole.
The 63-year-old gunned down Lennon outside the entrance of the Dakota apartment building, where the famed musician lived, in December 1980.
After firing the fatal shots, Chapman then sat on a nearby curb and began reading J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in The Rye.”
He pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in 1981 and was sentenced to 20 years-to-life in prison.
This is the tenth time the parole board has rejected his request for freedom.