Chapman: I'd probably stay in prison

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ALDEN, N.Y., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Mark David Chapman, the killer of Beatle John Lennon, told the New York parole board he'd probably just stay in prison if given his freedom, a transcript shows.

Chapman, 57, was denied parole for the seventh time Thursday. His next chance will be in August 2014.

ABC News reported Wednesday a transcript of his interview with the parole board at the Wende Correctional Facility in Aden, N.Y., revealed Chapman's reticence to leave the familiarity of the maximum-security state prison.

"I'm so bonded that I could probably assure you that, if released, I'd probably stay right where I'm at," Chapman said. "You know, once you stand on a rock for 20 years and feel the waves on you and you don't go anywhere because you're on a rock, you don't want to move."

The transcript also shows Chapman revealed to the interviewer that God had performed a miracle for him recently. While he didn't divulge what happened, he said "the timing of it and the importance of it, were so great and I cried for half an hour."

Chapman said he had been offered housing and work by a minister in Medina, N.Y., if he were to be released.

Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life for fatally shooting Lennon outside of his Manhattan apartment complex on Dec. 8, 1980.

He explained to the parole board he killed Lennon simply because he was "the most famous person I knew of." Others he contemplated killing included Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor and George C. Scott.

"I would like Mrs. Lennon to really know that," Chapman said. "I think it would help somewhat that it wasn't anger. It wasn't anything against her husband as a person, only as a famous person. If he was less famous than three or four other people on the list, he would not have been shot."