Mark David Chapman

For other people named Mark Chapman, see Mark Chapman (disambiguation).

Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas) is the man convicted of murdering former Beatle John Lennon on December 8, 1980.

Early life

Chapman had, during previous points in his life, been involved in various lifestyles; he had been addicted to drugs and was hospitalized for mental illness. At one time, he attended Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye had great personal significance for him, to the extent that he reportedly wished to model his life after the book's antisocial protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

Murder of John Lennon

File:Lennon chapman.jpg

John Lennon signing a copy of Double Fantasy for Mark David Chapman, approximately six hours before being shot by him.

At 10:50 p.m. on December 8, 1980, Chapman shot and killed John Lennon in front of Lennon's residence, The Dakota, at the corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City. Chapman was carrying a copy of Double Fantasy with him at the time that John Lennon had signed earlier that night.

Chapman spent most of the day near the entrance to the Dakota; talking to other fans and the doorman. Late in the morning, Chapman met the Lennons' housekeeper, who had just taken the 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. After the Lennons left, Chapman continued to wait near the Dakota.

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 dropped into a military firing stance and called out, "Mr. Lennon!" As Lennon turned to see who had called his name, Chapman shot him five times with hollow point rounds 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.

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.

Lennon was declared dead at 11:15 p.m. after losing more than eighty percent of his blood. Chapman sat down on the sidewalk and began reading what appeared to be a portion of The Catcher in the Rye after firing his shots and was arrested without incident.

Testimony and sentencing

At trial, Chapman testified that he had also traveled to New York once previously with the intention of killing Lennon, but did not carry out the act. He also stated that his actions were taken as a means to get attention as he had come to view himself as a "nobody."

Chapman was charged with second degree murder and was found competent to stand trial. It was expected that he would plead insanity; instead, he lodged a guilty plea.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Life in Attica

He is currently imprisoned at Attica State Prison, near Buffalo, in Western New York. For years he had to be completely separated from other prisoners because of concerns for his safety. He receives conjugal visits on a regular basis from his wife, Gloria Abe, to whom he has now been married for nearly thirty years. He is an avid letter writer and claims to be an evangelical Christian. Chapman has refused to undergo therapy of any kind whilst in prison, claiming to have been healed of severe depression by virtue of his fervent Christian beliefs. He has been denied parole four times, in October 2000, October 2002, October 2004 and October 2006. He receives hate mail from around the world on a daily basis, and prior to his parole-hearings there were reports of threats to his life, should he ever be released. The panel, in October 2006, concluded that they remained "concerned about the bizarre nature of this premeditated and violent crime". They went on to state that Chapman’s release "would not be in the best interest of the community". His next parole hearing is scheduled for October 2008.

Film proposal

Currently there are plans to turn Chapman's experiences during the weekend on which he committed the crime into a feature-length movie called Chapter 27, the title presumably inspired by Chapter 27 in Robert Rosen's book Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon, which explores the numerological meaning of 27, and shows how it connects Chapman to Lennon. Actor Jared Leto is set to star as Chapman along with Lindsay Lohan as a fan of Lennon who befriends him. This plan has been met with criticism from those Lennon fans who claim that this type of exposure would serve to grant Chapman the attention he has stated as one of the goals of his action. 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.

Government conspiracy theory

According to John-Lennon.com, United States anti-extremist movements, which were started 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 assassination.

In popular culture

• Marilyn Manson's album, "Holy Wood(In The Shadow of The Valley of Death)", as well as being partially inspired by Lennon's assasination, makes various references to Lennon, particularly in the song 'Lamb of God', Marilyn mournfully sings

     "There was Lennon in the happy gun
      There were words on the pavement
      We were looking for the lamb of God
      We were looking for Mark David"

• Elton John's 1982 song, "Empty Garden", 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, "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 entitled "I Just Shot John Lennon".
• Warrant wrote a song on their 1992 album Dog Eat Dog about Mark David Chapman. The song is called "Andy Warhol Was Right."
• The Rebel Spell, a Canadian anarcho-punk band recorded a song called "December 8th, 1980". The song refers to the theory that Lennon was killed because he was a threat and that Chapman was a tool for the CIA.
• 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. (of a revolution) off their 2005 album Stories of a Stranger.
• Freddie Mercury, frontman of the band Queen, wrote "Life is Real (Song for Lennon)" which can be found on Queen's 1982 album Hot Space
• Although never officially confirmed at the time of release by the author, Paul McCartney's song "Here Today" is widely acknowledged as his tribute to his late colleague. It originally came out his 1981 album Tug of War and more recently on his live Back In The World album as part of a trilogy of songs for the most important people in his life, the other two songs being "Calico Skies" (for his late wife Linda) and "Something", performed on ukelele (for George Harrison).

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