On Monday, December 8, 1980, a young man approached John Lennon and Yoko Ono who, at dawn, were entering their house in the Dakota building, next to Central Park (New York), and shouted “Hey, John! "Seconds later, the 25-year-old man shot the musician five times with a 38-caliber pistol. The ex-Beatle died shortly after. He was 40 years old.
Mark David Chapman was that young man of 25 years, today a man of 65 who has spent four decades in prison.
Now he has decided to apologize to Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow and who witnessed his murder.
As he has confessed, in a recording that has been made public, from the prison where he is serving his sentence, he thinks about what he himself calls his "despicable act" every day. He himself admits that he deserves the death penalty. However, he was then sentenced to life imprisonment.
The recording has now been made public because last August Chapman again requested parole, which was denied for the 11th time, and it is in the same where he is heard requesting it and the authorities deny it.
According to these tapes, dated August 19, the prison board of Wende prison, where he has been incarcerated for the last eight years, has decided not to grant him leave because "it would be incompatible with the welfare of society."
“I murdered him”, you hear in the recording that he addresses to the prison permit board, “because he was very, very, very famous, and that is the only reason why I was looking for a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. glory to me.
I was very selfish.
I want to add that, and emphasize it deeply.
It was an extremely selfish act.
I am so sorry for the pain I caused her, "he says in reference to Yoko Ono." I think about it constantly. "
“I want to reiterate that I am very sorry for having committed the crime.
I have no excuse.
It was for my own glory, ”he acknowledges.
In fact, a few years ago he confessed that Lennon was another famous person on his list, where there were also comedians and actors, such as actress Elizabeth Taylor.
"I think it is the worst crime that could be committed against someone who is innocent."
Additionally, Chapman explains that he knew Lennon was "extremely famous."
“I didn't kill him because of his personality or because of the type of man he was.
He was a familiar man.
And an icon.
He was someone who talked about the things we are talking about now and that is magnificent ”.
Chapman has been married since 1979, a year before committing his crime, and his wife, Gloria, lives straddling Hawaii, where they both resided until the crime, and a point near the jail.
Both are very religious, with deep Christian convictions, as he reiterated before the board to ask for their permission.
"I deserve zero, nothing," he said.
“He was a human being and I knew I was going to kill him.
That already says that you don't deserve anything, and if the law and you decide to leave me here for the rest of my life, I won't complain. "
Furthermore, the confessed murderer - after the shooting, he allowed himself to be meekly detained and pleaded guilty at trial - explained that he should be punished with death.
"When you knowingly plot the murder of someone, you know it is wrong and you do everything yourself, that is worth the death penalty, in my opinion," he said.
The murderer considers that the act, in addition to being "despicable", was "quite terrifying".
"I know my thoughts," Chapman relates.
“And then I didn't think about him, his wife, his son, his fans, anyone.
I was only thinking of myself.
And that is worth the death penalty ”.
But he also believes that, nevertheless, "everyone deserves a second chance":
In these 40 years in prison, Chapman has had an absolutely exemplary behavior.
He gets up every day at 6.30 in the morning and does small tasks in the prison as a salesman or assistant.
According to the board, he makes "productive use of time and for his personal growth", but they also observe that "his selfish actions have robbed future fans of the opportunity to live the experiences that the artist's creations would have provided to millions of people" .
"His violent acts", they emphasize, "caused devastation not only to the family and his former companions, but to the entire world."
In two years, Chapamn will be able to reapply for parole.