24 August 2025

On 8 December 1980, the then 25-year-old Texan Mark Chapman killed John Lennon in cold blood with 5 shots in his back, at the entrance of the Dakota building in New York where John and Yoko lived.

On 24 August 1981 he was given a 20-year jail sentence. Over the next few months, Chapman would claim many times to have been beaten by fellow inmates, some of
whom allegedly tried to kill him.

More than a dozen psychologists and psychiatrists interviewed Chapman in the six months prior to his trial. They conducted a battery of standard diagnostic procedures and more than 200 hours of clinical interviews. All six defense experts concluded that Chapman was psychotic; five diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, while the sixth felt that his symptoms were more consistent with manic depression.

Chapman is still in prison. His 14th parole hearing was
scheduled for this month. But no news about it, so far.

Chapman in a 1992 interview with the former
American TV and radio host legend Larry King.