The man who shot John Lennon told the parole board he knew it was wrong to kill the Beatles – but he was seeking fame and had “evil” in his heart.
Mark Chapman said he had “selfishly disregarded human life with global implications”.
The board denied him parole for the 12th time.
In a transcript released Monday by New York officials under a freedom of information request, Chapman said his decision to kill Lennon was “my big answer to everything. I’m not going to be nobody anymore.”
John Lennon in New York, May 1968
He told the board: “I don’t blame anyone else or anyone for taking me there.
“I know what I’m doing, I know it’s evil. I know it’s wrong, but I want fame so much that I’d give anything to take a life.”
Chapman after filming 42 years ago
On the night of December 8, 1980, Chapman and Yoko Ono killed Lennon as they returned to their Upper West Side apartment.
Earlier in the day, Lennon autographed Chapman on Chapman’s recently released album Double Fantasy.
The .38 caliber pistol Chapman used to kill John Lennon is on display on the 25th anniversary of the murder
Lennon on the microphone performing with the Beatles at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961
Chapman, 67, told the board: “It’s evil in my heart. I want to be someone and nothing can stop it.”
Chapman is serving a 20-year to life sentence at Greenhaven Correctional Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Lennon Memorial in Strawberry Fields in Central Park, New York
He has repeatedly expressed remorse at parole hearings over the years.
“I’ve hurt a lot of people all over the place, and if anyone wants to hate me, that’s okay, I get it,” he said at a hearing in August.
The board denied his release, saying Chapman’s actions allowed “the world to recover from the void you created.”
Chapman’s next parole board appearance is scheduled for February 2024.