# Mark David Chapman up for parole **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279 "2010-07-28T08:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/1 "2010-07-28T08:00:04Z")
[Story here.](http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/27/new.york.chapman.parole.hearing/index.html?hpt=C1) Okay, does anyone remember People magazine doing a **two-part** profile on him, in 1987? I went several rounds with a classmate over whether or not this was disgusting. His take on it was “John Lennon was a drunk and a drug addict.” I wasn’t going to get into defending Lennon because we would have been there all day, but what bothered me was the idea of **any** murderer getting sympathetic treatment from the media. I mean, they really glurged it up. Made Chapman seem like some tragic figure. If the only reason you get in the press is that you killed someone, you don’t rate a character analysis. I didn’t want to hear about John Hinkley’s woes either. And I especially didn’t want to hear about a loser like Chapman. Even if he hadn’t murdered anyone, he’d still have been a waste of space. ---
**Author:** ![Seamack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/2 "2010-07-28T08:31:56Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > [Story here.](http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/27/new.york.chapman.parole.hearing/index.html?hpt=C1) > > Okay, does anyone remember People magazine doing a **two-part** profile on him, in 1987? I went several rounds with a classmate over whether or not this was disgusting. His take on it was “John Lennon was a drunk and a drug addict.” I wasn’t going to get into defending Lennon because we would have been there all day, but what bothered me was the idea of **any** murderer getting sympathetic treatment from the media. I mean, they really glurged it up. Made Chapman seem like some tragic figure. If the only reason you get in the press is that you killed someone, you don’t rate a character analysis. I didn’t want to hear about John Hinkley’s woes either. And I especially didn’t want to hear about a loser like Chapman. Even if he hadn’t murdered anyone, he’d still have been a waste of space. Sorry, but I don’t see the problem with that article. It seems to present the facts without editorialising on them at all. At a guess, I’d say he’s parole will be turned down again “due to concern for the public safety and welfare.” I imagine the correct parole procedures are being followed as a matter of form to insure his further legal incarceration. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/3 "2010-07-28T08:33:06Z")
I didn’t mean the current article. Sorry I was unclear, but the subject tends to make me ramble. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/4 "2010-07-28T08:41:58Z")
This guy will never be paroled. If he was, his life expectancy would be less than a week, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/5 "2010-07-28T08:49:43Z")
So, nobody thinks he was “programmed” by the CIA to kill Lennon? Tut. What a shame, I could have got another “conspiracy” thread going. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/6 "2010-07-28T08:57:01Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > So, nobody thinks he was “programmed” by the CIA to kill Lennon? > > Tut. What a shame, I could have got another “conspiracy” thread going. 🙂 By all means, enlighten us. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/7 "2010-07-28T09:27:03Z")
You’ve not heard that rumour/outrageous lie? [Who killed John Lennon?](http://ciakilledlennon.blogspot.com/) > [@](#): > > But there is more to say. Recently I rented the DVD The Killing of John Lennon by Andrew Piddington. This is a fine film, given its premise: that Chapman was a psychotic lone gunman. Interestingly, Piddington includes a scene of Chapman firing at a practice range next to an unidentified lawman - this is Dana Reeves, Chapman’s likely handler, and the guy who gave him the hollow-point slugs to kill Lennon (the bullets, prominently featured in the film, are visibly not hollow-point, even though they are referred to as such in the script – the continuity person must have been asleep at the switch, but that’s a minor quibble) . Piddington’s footage hints at that but does not identify him, nor does Piddington remark on this in his voice-over commentary on the DVD (who is this guy??). Nor does he mention Chapman’s unaccounted-for layover in Chicago on his way to assassinate Lennon. And while his scene of Chapman laying out some artifacts in his hotel room just prior to the murder includes a photo of a young boy sitting on Chapman’s shoulders (also reproduced in Bresler’s book), he does not hint at its significance: it was taken in a refugee camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas in 1975 run by the CIA collaborationist World Vision and full of CIA assets evacuated from Saigon as it fell. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/8 "2010-07-28T09:28:11Z")
I’ve certainly heard of it. I was making a joke by asking you to try to convince us of the conspiracy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/9 "2010-07-28T17:17:23Z")
Was Chapman in Ft. Chaffee, or is that more bs? ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/10 "2010-07-28T17:40:45Z")
That People article from 1987 was actually in 3 parts. [Part I](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095701,00.html) [Part II](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095745,00.html) [Part III](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095787,00.html) [They also did a rather lengthy article back in 1981.](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079581,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/11 "2010-07-28T17:57:12Z")
Someone alert Starr and McCartney! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/12 "2010-07-29T05:36:52Z")
I just hate seeing MDC’s name in print. It’s what he wanted. Can’t we go back to calling him Some Stupid Asshole? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/13 "2010-07-29T13:48:32Z")
Everoneknows Lennon was really killed by [Stephen King](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/killersface.asp). This is one of the funniest conspiracy webpages. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/14 "2010-07-29T16:31:25Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > I just hate seeing MDC’s name in print. It’s what he wanted. Can’t we go back to calling him Some Stupid Asshole? Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/15 "2010-07-29T16:55:06Z")
Thirded. When it happened I vowed I would never say his name, and I haven’t. And I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/16 "2010-07-29T17:52:45Z")
I guess this could belong in the under-30 thread. The name sounded familiar, but only as I hovered over the thread title, did I go, “oh yeah, that’s the guy who killed Lennon”. I knew I had heard it before somewhere. And I find it funny that a People magazine spread would be taken seriously. That’d be like being outraged at an OK! or US Magazine lengthy article nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/17 "2010-07-29T18:09:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Everoneknows Lennon was really killed by [Stephen King](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/killersface.asp). > > This is one of the funniest conspiracy webpages. It’s been years since I read that. I’m surprised there’s still a web page and a booklet available! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/18 "2010-07-29T18:59:58Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I guess this could belong in the under-30 thread. The name sounded familiar, but only as I hovered over the thread title, did I go, “oh yeah, that’s the guy who killed Lennon”. I knew I had heard it before somewhere. I had no idea until I started reading the replies. _shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/19 "2010-07-29T20:53:27Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Thirded. > > When it happened I vowed I would never say his name, and I haven’t. And I won’t. fourthed!! Not to mention the slander of a great novel “Catcher in the Rye”… ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279/20 "2010-07-29T20:57:42Z")
Would Mark David Chapman still be in jail if his victim had been other than John Lennon? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mark-david-chapman-up-for-parole/548279.md?page=2)