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Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas) notoriously shot and killed former Beatle John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He remained at the scene until arrested and claimed the book The Catcher in the Rye would explain his perspective and motivation. Chapman was allowed to plead guilty to second degree murder before his trial began and, despite being assessed as delusional and possibly psychotic, he was sentenced to 20 years to life. He has been denied parole four times amidst campaigns against his release, and remains incarcerated at Attica State Prison.

Early life

Mark David Chapman was the first child of David, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, and Diane, a nurse. Shortly after his birth, they moved to Atlanta. His sister, Susan, was born when he was seven. He reported that he lived in dread of his father, who would beat his mother, and that "I'd wake up hearing my mother screaming my name, and it just scared the fire out of me, and I'd run in there and make him go away. Sometimes I think I actually pushed him away." He reports having fantasized about getting a gun and killing his father. He was considered a normal boy. His IQ was assessed as above average. He later told journalist Jack Jones "I used to fantasize that I was a king, and I had all these Little People around me and that they lived in the walls. And that I was their hero and was in the paper every day and I was on TV every day, their TV, and that I was important. They all kind of worshiped me, you know. It was like I could do no wrong." and "sometimes when I'd get mad I'd blow some of them up. I'd have this push-button thing, part of the , and I'd like get mad and blow out part of the wall and a lot of them would die. But the people would still forgive me for that, and, you know, everything got back to normal. That's a fantasy I had for many years."

In his first two years of high school, Chapman was a drug user who would sometimes skip school and once ran away to live on the streets for two weeks. Chapman reported that he was bullied and that he was not a good athlete. His favorite band was the Beatles. At 16 he became a born-again Christian, met his first girlfriend, and distributed Bible tracts. He began work as a YMCA summer camp counselor, where he was referred to as 'Nemo' by the children, won an award for outstanding counselor, and was made assistant director. The executive director of his branch said "If there ever was a person who had the potential for doing good, it was Mark." Chapman played guitar and, with his friend Michael McFarland, performed a comedy act in churches and Christian nightspots. Chapman made two brief attempts to study at college, including Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, but dropped out. He was fired from several jobs. Later he worked successfully with the YMCA with Vietnamese refugees at a resettlement camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas (after a brief visit to Lebanon on the same work). He was reported to have been good "Especially with the children," a colleague recalled. "He was like the Pied Piper." He was named an area coordinator and a key aide to David Moore, the program director. In 1980 Moore told reporters: "He was really caring with the refugees and he worked his tail off to do everything exactly right. He was a super kid." It is reported that Chapman accompanied him to meetings with government officials, and that President Gerald Ford shook his hand.

However, this work ended, and Chapman joined his girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, as a student at Covenant College, a strict Presbyterian college in Tennessee. They talked of marriage. However, Chapman fell behind in his studies and career, became obsessed with guilt over having an affair, and sank in to a clinical depression. He returned to work at the resettlement camp but left after an argument. He took a job as a security guard, at first unarmed but then he took a week-long course that qualified him as an armed guard. He left home after arguments with his parents, living at the YMCA or on the streets, spending money on short trips to Hawaii.

In 1977 he attempted suicide by gassing himself inside his car, but the vacuum cleaner hose melted in the exhaust pipe, and he was discovered. He was hospitalized for mental illness. On his release, the hospital hired him part-time. His supervisor reported: "All the patients, especially the older ones that nobody else would talk to, just loved that boy, and I can't say enough good about him."

Chapman's friend Michael McFarland recommended The Catcher in the Rye to Chapman, and the story took on great personal significance for him, to the extent that he reportedly wished to model his life after its disturbed, but also kind, sensitive and socially concerned protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

Chapman went on a trip around Far Eastern countries. He began a relationship with a travel agent, a Japanese-American woman named Gloria Abe, and in 1979 they married. He started work as a solitary printer. He had arguments with his hospital employers and left. He developed obsessions, including for art, and got in to debt. He reports having started to hear the voices of the 'Little People' again. In September 1980 he wrote a letter to a friend, Lynda Irish, saying "I'm going nuts", signed "The Catcher in the Rye".

Murder of John Lennon

Chapman went to New York in October 1980 planning to kill Lennon, but left to obtain bullets from his unwitting friend Dana Reeves in Atlanta. He returned to New York in November but reports that, after going to the cinema and being inspired by Ordinary People, he returned to Hawaii, telling his wife he had been obsessed with killing Lennon but had snapped out of it. On December 6th he flew back to New York. He reports having re-enacted some fictional events from Holden Caulfield's stay in New York in Catcher in the Rye.

On the morning of December 8, 1980, having left personal items in his hotel room for police to find, Chapman bought a copy of The Catcher in the Rye from a New York bookstore, in which he wrote "This is my statement", signed "The Catcher in the Rye". He then spent most of the day near the entrance to The Dakota apartment building where Lennon lived, talking to other fans and the doorman. Late in the morning, Chapman met the Lennons' housekeeper, who had just taken their five-year-old Sean Lennon for a walk. Chapman conversed with the housekeeper and patted Sean on the head as they departed.

Around 4:00 p.m., John and Yoko left The Dakota for a recording session at the Record Plant Studios. As they walked towards their limousine on the curb, Chapman shook hands with Lennon and held out a copy of Lennon's new album Double Fantasy for him to sign, and Lennon did. A fan/amateur photographer was present when Lennon signed Chapman's album and took a photo of the event. Chapman reported that "At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t. I waited until he came back."

Around 10:50 p.m., the Lennons' limousine returned to the Dakota. As John and Yoko passed by and entered the archway entrance of the building's courtyard, Chapman called out, "Mr. Lennon!", dropped into a "combat stance" and shot Lennon four times with hollow point bullets from a Charter Arms .38 revolver. he had purchased in Hawaii. Chapman's five shots inflicted four wounds. One of the bullets fatally pierced Lennon's aorta causing severe blood loss.

Chapman remained, taking out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and trying to read it, until the police arrived. The NYPD officers who first responded to the shooting recognized that Lennon's wounds were severe, and so they decided to transport him in their police car to Roosevelt Hospital. Chapman was arrested without incident. In his statement to police three hours later, Chapman stated "I’m sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil."

Lennon was declared dead at 11:15 p.m. after losing more than eighty percent of his blood.

Testimony and sentencing

Chapman was charged with second degree murder. At an initial hearing, in January 1981, Chapman's lawyer Jonathan Marks entered a plea of "not guilty, by reason of insanity". His defence team sought to establish his mental state at the time , and Chapman was interviewed for hundreds of hours by psychiatrists. Nine were prepared to testify at his trial - six that he was psychotic and three that he fell short of criteria for psychosis. It is reported that his defence team were confident he would be found not guilty by reason of insanity, in which case he would have been committed to a state mental hospital and received treatment. However, in June, Chapman told Marks he wanted to drop the insanity defense and plead guilty. Marks strenuously objected with "serious questions" over his sanity, and legally challenged his competence to make this decision. However, after a further assessment in which psychiatrists concluded that he was competent despite being delusional, and a brief hearing in which Chapman denied any threats or promises had been made, he said God had told him to plead guilty, and that he wouldn't change his plea regardless of his sentence, Judge Edwards declared him fit to plead. In August, without trial (due to his guilty plea), Judge Edwards sentenced him to 20 years to life in prison, slightly less than the maximum possible of 25 years to life.

Life in Attica

Chapman has been imprisoned since 1981 in Attica State Prison, near Buffalo, in Western New York. Chapman is reported to be an evangelical Christian. He has been separated from other prisoners because of concerns for his safety, in a Secure Housing Unit for violent and at-risk prisoners. There are 105 other prisoners in the building "who are not considered to pose a threat to him," according to the New York State Department of Correctional Services. He has his own prison cell but "spends most of his day outside his cell working on housekeeping and in the library". It is also reported that he works in the prison as a legal clerk and kitchen helper, but otherwise his activities are severely curtailed; that he was turned down from taking part in the Cephas Attica workshops, a charitable organization which helps inmates to adjust to life outside prison, and that he is banned from attending the prison's violence and anger management classes due to concern for his safety; that he reads and writes short stories, and that he told his parole board hearing in 2004 that, if released, he would like to minister on Jesus and God, and thought that there was a possibility he could find work as a farmhand or return to his previous trade as a printer.

Chapman is on the Family Reunion Scheme, allowed two visits a year from his wife of nearly 30 years, Gloria Abe. The scheme allows him to spend up to 42 hours alone with his wife in a specially built prison home. He gets occasional visits from his sister and a few friends and clerics. His only other regular visitor, his mother, died in February 2004.

James Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services, said in 2004 that Chapman had been involved in three "minor incidents" between 1989 and 1994 for delaying an inmate count and refusing to follow an order, but nothing since 1994.

Parole applications and campaigns

Chapman has been denied parole four times, by a three-member board, in closed hearings lasting less than an hour, in October 2000, October 2002, October 2004 and October 2006.

Prior to the 2000 hearing, Ono sent a letter to the board opposing Chapman's release. Her letter, released to the media afterwards by Yoko Ono's press spokesman Eliot Mintz, stated that Lennon "brought light and hope to the whole world" and "would have gladly changed his position with "the subject" and live the life of protection that "the subject" enjoys now". She stated that if Chapman (who she refers to as "the subject") were granted parole, "...myself and John's two sons would not feel safe for the rest of our lives -- people who are in positions of high visibility and outspokenness such as John would also feel unsafe." and that "...many will feel betrayed. Anger and fear would rise again" such that "...people in the outside world who are strongly distressed about what he has done...would feel that it is unfair that the "subject" is rewarded with a normal life while John lost his. Violence begets violence"

In addition, State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio, chairman of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, wrote to Parole Board Chairman Brion Travis saying that "It is the responsibility of the New York State Parole Board to ensure that public safety is protected from the release of dangerous criminals like Mark David Chapman.".

Also, an online petition to the parole board never to release Chapman was started by Sarajane Sein. As of 25 December 2006 it has reportedly collected 8926 signatures supporting statements such as: "Chapman committed a heinous crime, unprovoked and without remorse", "He deserves to pay for this with life in prison" and "It is also a matter of public safety that he not be released."

At a 50-minute hearing in 2000, Chapman stated that he was not a danger to society and had overcome the psychological problems he had at the time of the murder. He also stated that, as a conservative, he believed he did not deserve to be free and that "I believe once you take a person's life, there's no way you can make up for that. Period." He also spoke about regret for the effect on Yoko Ono. The Board's page of explanation stated that while Chapman had an "exemplary disciplinary record" while in prison, partly because he has served his time in special protective housing, "you have been unable to avail yourself of anti-violence and/or anti-aggression programming." The board stated that "Your most vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged," and that "During your parole hearing, this panel noted your continued interest in maintaining your notoriety.", concluding that releasing Chapman at that time would "deprecate the seriousness of the crime and serve to undermine respect for the law."

Lawyer Robert Gangi of the Correctional Association of New York said he thought it unlikely Chapman would ever be freed, stating "The fact that it was John Lennon... eliminates any hope for even a slim chance for Chapman being released," he said. "The parole board is not going to risk the political heat by releasing Chapman."

An additional online petition was started in 2001 by Roland Porter of the John Lennon Society, stating "This Petition is designed to keep the convicted Killer of John Winston (Ono) Lennon (Mark David Chapman) in prison without Parole!"

In 2002, the parole board stated that releasing Chapman after 22 years in prison would "deprecate the seriousness" of the crime and that while "your behavioral record continues to be very positive, your current positive adjustment...cannot predict your community behavior"

In 2004, the third parole interview was 29 minutes long. The board reported that their decision was based on the interview, a review of records and deliberation. The board said its decision "was based on the extreme malicious intent you exhibited during the instant offense where you fired a handgun multiple times striking your target". One of the reasons given by the Board was having subjected Yoko Ono to "monumental suffering by her witnessing the crime". They stated: "During the interview, your statements for motivation acknowledges the attention you felt this murder would generate," and "To release you on parole at this time would significantly undermine respect for the law.". Around 6000 people had signed the online petition by this time. Lennon fans were threatening retribution if he were to be released and Lennon's sister opposed his release and warned authorities against it.

In October 2006, the parole board held a 16-minute hearing and concluded that they remained "concerned about the bizarre nature of this premeditated and violent crime". They said that "While the panel notes your satisfactory institutional adjustment, due to the extremely violent nature of the offense your release would not be in the best interest of the community" or his own personal safety.

On 8th December 2006, the 26th anniversary of Lennon's death, Ono published a one-page advert in newspapers, suggesting making December 8th a day of forgiveness, but that she had not yet forgiven Chapman and wasn't sure if she was ready to yet.

Chapman's next parole hearing is scheduled for October 2008.

Motivation and mental health

Chapman has been charged or convicted with one crime during his lifetime, the murder of Lennon, for which he is known. Various theories and perspectives on his psychology have been advanced, including by Chapman himself.

It has been suggested that as a young boy he was "very sensitive and that his parents' anger towards each other intruded upon his normal development. He retreated from a very early age into a fantasy world". For a period during his (early) teens he regularly took drugs such as cannabis and LSD, something linked to an increased risk of later mental disorders like schizophrenia in those with a predisposition. Chapman was a Beatles and John Lennon fan. In 1966, John Lennon was reported as saying "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." This led to bans on radio stations in the southern states in the USA and rallies of teenagers stomping on or burning Beatles albums, and threats on the Beatles' lives. Jan Reeves, sister of one of Chapman's best friends, Dana Reeves, reports that Chapman, by then a born-again Christian, "seemed really angry toward John Lennon, and he kept saying he could not understand why John Lennon had said it. According to Mark, there should be nobody more popular than the Lord Jesus Christ. He said it was blasphemy". The song "Imagine" also angered Chapman - at prayer meetings and religious rallies Chapman and his prayer group sang a parody with the lyric "Imagine, imagine John Lennon is dead". Chapman had also read in a library book (John Lennon: One Day at a Time by Anthony Fawcett) about Lennon's life in New York. "He was angry that Lennon would preach love and peace but yet have millions," according to his wife Gloria. Chapman later reported that "He told us to imagine no possessions, and there he was, with millions of dollars and yachts and farms and country estates, laughing at people like me who had believed the lies and bought the records and built a big part of their lives around his music."

At some point Chapman became obsessed with Catcher in the Rye after rereading it for the first time since high school. He was particularly influenced by the book's polemic against 'phoniness' in society, and the need to protect people, especially children. He had a copy on him when he murdered Lennon, in which he had written "This is my statement". After his arrest, he wrote a letter to the media urging everyone to read the "extraordinary book" that may "help many to understand what has happened" When asked if he wanted to address the court at his sentencing, Chapman read a passage from Catcher in the Rye that describes Holden Caulfield's fantasy of being on the edge of a cliff and having to catch all the little kids from falling. The chief witness at the sentencing, Daniel W. Schwartz, said that Chapman wanted to kill Lennon because he viewed him as a "phony". Chapman later said that he thought the murder would turn him into a Holden Caulfield, a "quasi-savior" and "guardian angel".

Chapman recalls having listened to the Imagine album in the weeks before the murder and stated: "I would listen to this music and I would get angry at him, for saying that he didn't believe in God… and that he didn't believe in the Beatles. This was another thing that angered me, even though this record had been done at least ten years previously. I just wanted to scream out loud, 'Who does he think he is, saying these things about God and heaven and the Beatles?' Saying that he doesn't believe in Jesus and things like that. At that point, my mind was going through a total blackness of anger and rage. So I brought the Lennon book home, into this Catcher in the Rye milieu where my mind set is Holden Caulfield and anti-phonyness." Chapman had begun praying to the devil as well as to God for strength. He later reported that while Holden was not violent, he did "have a violent thought of shooting someone, of emptying a revolver into this fellow's stomach, someone that had done him wrong." despite being "a very sensitive person and he probably would not have killed anybody as I did. But that's fiction and reality was standing in front the Dakota.".

Following the murder, Chapman underwent dozens of assessments by different psychiatrists. He told of his anger toward his father who had regularly physically abused his mother; about his identification with Holden Caulfield and with Dorothy in Oz; and of his conferences with the "Little People" (an imaginary set of people who he interacted with and took guidance from). He also provided a list of other celebrities he had thought about killing. Chapman later told journalist Jack Jones that he had told his "Little People" he intended to go to New York and kill John Lennon and they begged him not to, saying "Please, think of your wife. Please, Mr. President. Think of your mother. Think of yourself." but Chapman says he told them his mind was made up and that their reaction was silence.

Chapman also said that while in New York he had thought of leaping to his death from the Statue of Liberty. He had attempted suicide three years previously. Overall the psychiatrists concluded that, while delusional, he was competent to stand trial. However, six were prepared to testify for the defense that Chapman was psychotic. The prosecution had three who said that he fell short of full psychosis. Chapman has since said he thinks he was suffering from Schizophrenia, a diagnosis made by some in his pre-sentencing psychiatric assessments. Journalist Jack Jones has referred to him as a sociopath.

Chapman stated to his parole board hearing in 2000 that "I feel that I see John Lennon now not as a celebrity. I did then. I saw him as a cardboard cutout on an album cover. I was very young and stupid, and you get caught up in the media and the records and the music. And now I've come to grips with the fact that John Lennon was a person. This has nothing to do with being a Beatle or a celebrity or famous."

In his 2006 parole board hearing, Chapman said "The result would be that I would be famous, the result would be that my life would change and I would receive a tremendous amount of attention, which I did receive," and "I was in a very confused, dark place. I was looking for reasons to vent all that anger and confusion and low self esteem,". He stated that "I believe that if I really wanted to, I could have changed my mind; I had ample opportunity to do it and I didn't do it and I regret that deeply"

Media and film

For the first six years in Attica, Chapman refused all requests for interviews. But he later told James R. Gaines his story of the murder and his youth. Gaines turned the interviews into a three-part, 18,000-word People magazine series in February and March 1987. Chapman told the Parole Board it was an interview "which I regret." Chapman later gave a series of interviews to Jack Jones of the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. In 1992 Jones published a book, Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon. In 2000, with his first parole hearing approaching, Jones asked Chapman to tell his story for "Mugshots," a CourtTV Network program. Chapman refused to go on camera but, after praying over it, consented to tell his story in a series of audiotapes. He told the Parole Board that the program "took a lot out of context, but that's okay." and that "Those three hours were really great, because I was able really -- it was like a confession almost. I was able to accept my responsibility in this for probably the first real time, and I told him I didn't deserve anything. And that was the bulk of the interview, and that got missed totally."

Currently Chapman's experiences during the weekend on which he committed the murder are being turned in to a feature-length movie called Chapter 27, a reference to The Catcher in the Rye which has 26 chapters. The title also seems to refer to "Chapter 27" of Robert Rosen's book Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon, which explores the numerological meaning of the number 27, "the triple 9," a number of profound importance to John Lennon, who was obsessed with numerology, Cheiro’s Book of Numbers, and 9 and all its multiples. Lennon, born on October 9, 1940, wrote such songs as Revolution 9, Number 9 Dream, and One After 909, and was essentially reborn as an American when he received his green card on July 27, 1976. Though Lennon was murdered around 11 p.m. on December 8, 1980, it was already December 9 in England, the country of his birth. It was Chapman’s goal, according to Rosen, to write Chapter 27 "in Lennon’s blood." Actor Jared Leto is set to star as Chapman along with Lindsay Lohan as a fan of Lennon who befriends him. This film has been met with criticism from those Lennon fans who claim that this type of exposure would serve to grant Chapman further attention. Another film, The Killing of John Lennon, directed by Andrew Piddington and starring Jonas Ball as Chapman, premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2006. Chapter 27 is scheduled to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007.

In popular culture

• The band Mindless Self Indulgence wrote a song titled "Mark David Chapman".
• Marilyn Manson's album, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death), as well as being partially inspired by Lennon's murder, makes various references to Lennon, particularly in the song "Lamb of God".
• Elton John's 1982 song, "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" from the album Jump Up!, is about the loss of John Lennon and refers to Mark David Chapman as the "insect (who) damaged so much grain."
• Former Lennon bandmate George Harrison referred to Chapman in his tribute song for John, "All Those Years Ago", as "The devil's best friend... someone who offended all."
• In their 1996 album, To the Faithful Departed, Irish band The Cranberries feature a song titled "I Just Shot John Lennon".
• Warrant wrote a song on their 1992 album Dog Eat Dog about Mark David Chapman called "Andy Warhol Was Right."
• Indie rap group Jedi Mind Tricks refers to Chapman on their track "Put 'Em In The Grave", stating "I'm like Mark David Chapman with a Salinger book".
• Indie rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead released a song entitled "Mark David Chapman" in their 1999 album Madonna.
• Half Man Half Biscuit mention Chapman in their song "When the Evening Sun Goes Down" from their 2002 album, Cammel Laird Social Club. "I'm off to see the Bootleg Beatles, as the bootleg Mark Chapman".
• Loudon Wainwright III mentions Chapman in the song "Not John" on his 1982 album I'm Alright. The song recalls the day of Lennon's shooting, Chapman's involvement, and the public response to it.
• Julian Cope, former Teardrop Explodes lead singer, penned the track "Don't Call Me Mark Chapman," which appears on his 1994 album Autogeddon.
• The Southern California punk band Bad Religion make reference to Chapman's murder of Lennon in the song "Don't Pray on Me" on their album Recipe for Hate. The line is "Mark David did it to John".
• The murder of John Lennon is referenced in "Dakota" - a song by American rock band O.A.R. on their 2005 album Stories of a Stranger.
• The hardcore band Eighteen Visions make reference to Chapman in their song "Who the Fuck Killed John Lennon" on their release entitled "Until The Ink Runs Out"
• Voice tracks taken from an early interview of Chapman are converted into a garage band song fronted by Mark David Chapman, entitled "Crazy".
• Ozzy Osbourne wrote a song entitled "Shot In the Dark", which is written from Chapman's point of view.
• Paul Simon's "Late Great Jonny Ace" on the Hearts and Bones album was written in response to the killing of John Lennon.
• Danish rock band Dizzy Mizz Lizzy published a song about John Lennon's death entitled 11:07 PM.
• American rock group Styx recorded "Killing the Thing That You Love", which contains the chorus "As you look in the mirror, at what you’ve become, killing the thing that you love, like Lennon’s assassin, Lennon’s assassin".
• Christine Lavin in her 1985 album Future Fossils, recorded a song titled "The Dakota" referencing the murder.
• A scene in the 1997 film Private Parts features an irate Howard Stern insisting that Chapman be killed if he were ever released.
• The play and film Six Degrees of Separation mentions Mark Chapman during a monologue on the anti-social aspects of Catcher in the Rye.
• A conspiracy theory exists that proposes that United States anti-extremist movements, allegedly created and influenced by former United States President Richard Nixon and FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover, saw Lennon as a "threat of the worst kind", and labeled him as a "dangerous radical that needs to be stopped". In his book Who Killed John Lennon, Fenton Bresler addresses this theory and argues that Chapman was a CIA killing tool who was programmed to carry out the murder.

References

1. Crime Library
2. Crime Library
3. March 4, 1966: The Beginning of the End for John Lennon? Lynne H. Schultz, 2001
4. Crime Library
5. Crime Library
6. Crime Library
7. "Police Trace Tangled Path Leading To Lennon's Slaying at the Dakota" by Paul L. Montgomery, The New York Times, 10 December 1980, pp. A1,B6, quoting NYPD Chief of Detectives James T. Sullivan.
8. Crime Library
9. New York Times
10. BBC News
11. Daily Mirror
12. Blogcritics.org
13. CNN Assignment Editor Jonathan Wald writes on CNN.com on 6 October 2004 about Ono's consistent opposition to parole]
14. Text of Ono's 2000 letter sent to parole hearings, from the BBC
15. CNN
16. Online petition
17. BBC News
18. Court TV Transcript of 2000 parole board hearing
19. Star Bulletin
20. BBC News
21. Online petition
22. Instant Karma
23. CNN
24. Guardian
25. TCM
26. Scotsman
27. BBC News
28. Irish Examiner news 8th December 2006 Yoko Ono not ready to forgive Lennon's killer
29. Transcript of Court TV interview with Jack Jones
30. The Dark Side of Beatlemania
31. March 4, 1966: The Beginning of the End for John Lennon? Lynne H. Schultz, 2001, retrieved December 26 2006.
32. 1981 New York Times report on Chapman
33. March 4, 1966: The Beginning of the End for John Lennon? Lynne H. Schultz, 2001, retrieved December 26 2006.
34. Trascript of Chapman interview with Larry King, 2000 retrieved 26 December 2006]
35. Crime Library
36. Crime Library
37. Transcript of Chapman interview with Larry King, 2000 retrieved 26 December 2006]
38. Crime Library
39. WCBSTV
40. Crime Library
41. Six Degrees of Separation quote from film
42. Six Degrees of Separation Quote from Play
43. JohnLennon.com

External links

• Article on Mark Chapman which argues that he killed for fame (BBC)
• BBC News Report with actual news footage from the time on right hand side of page
• A Crime Library article on Mark David Chapman, by Fred McGunagle
• John Lennon assassination conspiracy theories
• Court TV News "in-depth" section on Chapman

• John Lennon
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• Prisoners serving life sentences
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