“I have no excuse. This was for self-glory.”
Mark Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, has apologised to the late singer’s widow Yoko Ono, almost 40 years after his death.
Chapman shot the former Beatle four times outside his Manhattan apartment as Ono watched on in December 1980.
He was denied parole at a hearing in New York on August 19, as the Press Association confirms. During the hearing, Chapman said he deserved the death penalty for his shocking crime and revealed that he killed the 40-year-old Beatle for “glory”.
“I just want to reiterate that I’m sorry for my crime,” Chapman told the parole board at New York’s Wende Correctional Facility. “I have no excuse. This was for self-glory. I think it’s the worst crime that there could be to do something to someone that’s innocent.
“He was extremely famous. I didn’t kill him because of his character or the kind of man he was. He was a family man. He was an icon. He was someone that spoke of things that now we can speak of and it’s great.”
He added: “I assassinated him, to use your word earlier, because he was very, very, very famous and that’s the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory, very selfish.
“I want to add that and emphasise that greatly. It was an extremely selfish act. I’m sorry for the pain that I caused to her [Ono]. I think about it all of the time.”
According to the Press Association, Chapman’s appeal was rejected on the grounds that it “would be incompatible with the welfare of society.”
Chapman added that he deserved the death penalty, although it was abolished in 2007.
“When you knowingly plot someone’s murder and know it’s wrong and you do it for yourself, that’s a death penalty right there in my opinion,” he said. “Some people disagree with me, but everybody gets a second chance now.”
He added: “I deserve zero, nothing. If the law and you choose to leave me in here for the rest of my life, I have no complaint whatsoever.”
Chapman was 25 at the time of the crime, but is now married with a wife who lives near the facility where he is currently incarcerated.
He is next eligible for parole in two years.