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- Mark Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon 20 years
ago, pleaded with the Devil for the strength to carry out the murder of
the former Beatle, he has revealed.
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- In an interview from the New York prison where he will
shortly apply for parole, Chapman, 45, disclosed that he believed he should
have received the death penalty for his crime.
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- "I should have been executed, you know. Well, if
you commit murder, maybe that's what's due," he said. "I'm lucky
to be alive. You know, I deserve to die."
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- Chapman shot Lennon at point-blank range outside his
New York apartment on 8 December 1980, in front of his wife, Yoko Ono.
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- Despite his determination to kill Lennon, to achieve
fame, and "to be loved", the 25-year-old loner, who had posed
as a fan, revealed that he initially could not bring himself to use the
gun which, wet with sweat, was hidden in his pocket.
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- Lennon, who had approached Chapman and offered him an
autograph, apparently sensed his discomfort, and repeatedly asked him "if
he wanted anything else".
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- Having spent the day waiting outside Lennon's apartment,
pleading, "Help me, Devil, give me the power and strength to do this",
the former security guard recalled the onset of a "dead silence in
his brain". When he saw Lennon returning home later in the evening,
he said, "a voice in my head said: 'Do it, do it, do it.' I aimed
at his back and pulled the trigger five times and all hell broke loose
in my mind."
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- Now a committed Christian, Chapman is hoping for release
after a parole hearing next week. Under New York state law he automatically
comes up for parole having served 20 years, and has the right to indicate
whether he wants to be freed.
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- He said that until three years ago he had regarded Lennon
as simply "a picture on an album cover", but that recently what
he had done struck home. "It all became real three years ago, where
this isn't an image I blew away. This was a beating heart ... I don't think
most murderers realise what they've done. But I did. He became real for
me, he stepped from the album cover."
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- Psychiatrists have been evaluating Chapman's sanity in
preparation for the parole hearing. But he does not receive any kind of
treatment, or any medication. "I've been mentally well for 12, 13
years. No problems. I'm on their highest grade of mental wellness."
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- He believed that John Lennon would forgive him and support
his request. "I think he would be liberal, I think he would care.
I think he would probably want to see me released. That's my opinion."
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