Mark David Chapman Facts: John Lennon's Killer Denied Parole For 10th Time

Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, was denied parole Thursday for the tenth time since his sentencing in 1981. The legendary Beatle was shot four times outside his apartment at The Dakota in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980.

A three-person parole board panel rejected his latest bid, the New York Daily News reported. The parole board’s statement was similar to the ones he received in 2016 and in 2014.

“The panel has determined that your release would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of society,” the state Board of Parole told Chapman in a letter.

Chapman, who fired five rounds from a .38 special revolver, was found at the scene reading "Catcher In The Rye." He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1981.

The 63-year-old is currently serving 20 years to life and has been held at maximum security Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, since 2012, where he was transferred from Attica. He will remain in jail until at least 2020 when he is next eligible for parole.

Chapman told the court in 2012 he killed Lennon "because he was very famous."

The gunman, who met Lennon hours before shooting him, said the musician was "very kind" but he was "so compelled to commit murder that nothing would have dragged me away from that building."

News of Lennon's assassination broke during Monday Night Football. Anchor Howard Cosell made the announcement during a Patriots-Dolphin game.

"An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival," Cosell said. "Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take."

On Monday, a recent mug shot of Chapman was released in the light of his parole application. The photo, which was taken in January, showed Chapman for the first time in six years.

In his last parole application in 2016, Chapman was rejected because of the "premeditated and celebrity-seeking nature of the crime." Previously, the Parole Board said releasing Chapman would "undermine respect for the law."

Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow — who was with him at the time of the shooting, has not publicly spoken out on the parole denial. Her lawyer Jonas Herbsman reportedly said she had sent a letter to the parole board requesting that Chapman remains in prison.

Chapman's defense lawyer had previously said his client suffers from depression and has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

According to the book, "Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon," by Jack Jones, Chapman began taking drugs in high school.