Friday, August 24, 2012
Mark David Chapman Sentenced for Murdering John Lennon - 1981
On this date in
1981, Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of
John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles, one of the most successful bands
in the history of popular music.
On December 8,
1980, Chapman shot and killed the 40-year-old singer, songwriter and peace
activist, outside Lennon’s New York City apartment building, the Dakota, where
he lived with his wife Yoko Ono and their young son Sean. Lennon, who was born
on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, shot to fame in the 1960s with The
Beatles, whose multiple best-selling albums and hit films, such as A Hard Day’s
Night (1964), turned the group into hugely influential global pop icons. After
The Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon embarked on a successful solo music
career, writing and performing such songs as “Imagine” and “(Just Like)
Starting Over.” He also directed a 1972 documentary film, also titled Imagine,
which was a sometimes-surreal glimpse at a day in the life of Lennon and Ono,
set to their music. On the day of Lennon’s murder, Chapman, a Beatles fan who
was born in 1955, spent the day hanging out near the musician’s apartment on
West 72nd Street and Central Park West. Late that afternoon, a photographer
captured a shot of Lennon as he stopped to autograph his Double Fantasy album
for Chapman before walking with Yoko Ono toward a limousine waiting to take
them to a recording session. Later that night, shortly before 11 p.m., the
couple returned to the Dakota, where a waiting Chapman shot Lennon four times
as the musician walked toward his building. Chapman stayed at the scene,
reading The Catcher in the Rye, a book he was obsessed with, until the police
arrived and took him into custody. Lennon was pronounced dead at Manhattan’s
Roosevelt Hospital around 11:15 p.m. Chapman initially entered a plea of not
guilty by reason of insanity; however, he later decided to drop the insanity
defense and plead guilty to second-degree murder. At his sentencing hearing on
August 24, 1981, Chapman read from The Catcher in the Rye. Chapman’s requests
for parole have all been denied and he continues to serve time at New York’s Attica
State Prison.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment