Thursday, August 5, 2010

Yoko Ono Opposes Parole for John Lennon’s Murderer

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Ottawa, (1969).Image via Wikipedia
Posted on: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/yoko-ono-0728/

John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono will once again oppose the parole of her late husband's killer. She has sent a letter each time of the five times Mark David Chapman has faced a parole board. She has sent another letter for when he'll again face the board on August 9, according to the New York Daily News.

Chapman shot and killed the former Beatle outside the Dakota apartment building on December 8, 1980. Lennon and Ono were returning from a recording session. The convicted murderer has been serving a 20 years-to-life prison sentence in upstate New York.

In her first letter, opposing Chapman's 2000 parole, Ono wrote that if he were released, "I am afraid it will bring back the nightmare, the chaos and confusion once again. Myself and John's two sons would not feel safe for the rest of our lives."

Due to his notoriety, Chapman – now 55 – is mostly kept away from the general prison population. Although he had some minor prison violations early on, his record has been clean since 1994, according to the Daily News.

The head of prisoners' rights group Correctional Association of America, Robert Gangi, doubts Chapman will be released. He thinks the public uproar, in that event, would be something everyone would rather avoid.

"Given that he committed a high-profile crime and he killed one of the most famous and most beloved figures literally in the world, it's highly unlikely three parole commissioners would vote to grant him release," Gangi told the Daily News.
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