There is no one who loved the Beatles more than me.  As much, maybe, but not more.  Yet this is simply not a reason to deny Mark David Chapman parole.  According to CNN, 

“John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for the fifth time Tuesday.

The New York State Division of Parole issued a release saying Chapman’s request was denied “due to concern for the public safety and welfare.”

Chapman, 53, is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for shooting to death the former Beatle outside his New York City apartment on December 8, 1980.

The killer has served 24 years of his sentence at the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility and was previously turned down by the New York State division of parole in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.”

Chapman’s next appearance before the Parole Board will be August, 2010. What can he do differently to gain parole?  Nothing.  His denial has nothing to do with his conduct since the murder or any threat of risk to the public.  It has to do with love of John Lennon and anger for the crime.  This anger will never go away.

Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, in previous years has submitted a letter requesting that Chapman be denied parole. Calls Tuesday to Ono’s legal representative have not been returned.

Fifty letters and a petition signed by almost 1,100 people were submitted objecting to releasing Chapman, said Division of Parole spokeswoman Heather Groll. Only three letters were submitted appealing for Chapman’s release.

Is parole now subject to popular vote?  The Parole Board provides no basis to continue to deny Chapman parole.  His sentence, 20 years to life, presumed at the time it was imposed that in the absence of sound reason to keep him imprisoned, he would be released on parole after 20 years.  That was the sentence imposed by the judge.  The Parole Board, obviously, disagrees with that sentence, and has decided that Chapman isn’t going anywhere.

Whether this is viewed as tyranny of the majority, the majority being those who loved Lennon versus the few who care at all about Chapman, or a political usurpation of the power of the judiciary by the Parole Board, an arm of the executive, it’s wrong and it’s time to divorce our anger about the crime from the wrongful use of parole denial to add punishment to people whose crime was particularly hated.

I loved the Beatles.  But denying Chapman parole won’t bring John Lennon back.  It’s time to let go.