Talk:Mark David Chapman

Redundant content

It is stated twice in the article that 6 psychiatrists found MDC to be psychotic and 3 declared him to not meet the legal definition thereof. If anyone reads the whole article, it really serves no purpose to say the exact same thing twice.Alfred (talk) 10:17, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Religious affiliation

The following text has been added and removed from the early life section repeatedly:

"At age 16, Chapman became a born-again Christian, and distributed Bible tracts. He met his first girlfriend, another born-again Christian named Jessica Blankenship."

Could we possibly discuss this here and reach some sort of consensus rather than constantly edit warring? I'm not familiar enough with Chapman's case to be able to judge but I would imagine this information would be relatively verifiable one way or the other. ElijahOmega (talk) 13:12, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

The information is sourced and thus it is verifiable. Editors who want it removed should discuss the change here. So far, those removing it have left no edit summaries or comments here so we do not know why they want it removed. — John Cardinal (talk) 16:09, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

This is just another one of countless cases proving that "god" is in fact satan doing his dirty little games. God let Jesus being killed, god brought us Hitler and Stalin and Mao, and god brought us USA and Israel as Irak and Iran. God is the biggest killer of all worlds, wake up! (people who think different, they are just doing blah blah suggesting a "good" god, but not realising the true nature of god, beware of god!) --178.197.233.31 (talk) 03:22, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Is there a more authoritative and unbiased reference on the claim that MDC was born-again? TruTV Television shows have sensationalized other stories in the past. 22yearswothanks (talk) 12:06, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Mistake in the number of parole attempts?

I found this while reading under the Parole subtitle: Chapman has been denied parole five times, by a three-member board, in closed hearings lasting less than an hour, in October 2000, October 2002, October 2004, October 2006, August 2008, and February 2010. So, has he been denied five or six times??? 190.234.253.3 (talk) 05:27, 25 February 2010 (UTC)Arturo

Additionally, why is he still in the jail though he was sentenced to 20 year to life and he was imprisoned in 1981? I heard that he was sentenced to life imprisonment with chances to request parole after 20 year imprisonment. It should be corrected. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:320:3106:1005:3163:F248:6EDB:81C3 (talk) 08:38, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Second degree murder instead of first?

Why was he charged/convicted of second degree murder instead of first when he planned it months in advance? TomCat4680 (talk) 05:16, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia page on murder in the United States outlines New York state's classification scheme for degrees of murder. SweetNightmares (talk) 17:24, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

There is no way that this man is autistic

I think that clearly this man did not have severe Autism. I am kind of offended that someone would say that this murderer was autistic. It's offensive to everyone with any type of Autism, high or low functioning. I have high functioning Autism.

By the way this is written, I can say that there is no way that this man had Autism. In fact, because of that, I question the entire factuality of this article. 75.73.198.215 (talk) 00:46, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Fine but you need to support your arguments. I am not an expert on HF autism but know from personal experience (a friend is a HF autist) that HF autists do have the ability to obsess and, like other people, do become depressed. The delusional bit can be an unrelated condition, but adding it to the obsessive bit you get something dangerous to other people, to say the least. If you look at Chapman's stare there is something extremely cold about it (sociopathic) but that is a pure speculation. I'd say the criminal system is probably right in never releasing this man. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.197.3.74 (talk) 23:24, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

That Chapman has suffered from depression and that he was delusional and obsessed with Lennon in 1980 is not in dispute; that doesn't mean he is autistic. The article should only say he is autistic if a reliable source says has been diagnosed with it. Jim Michael (talk) 07:32, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

For the record the sentence re autism was apparently just a blip added just prior to above comment by unregistered editor and was then removed. I've never read anything suggesting it was ever claimed that he was diagnosed or diagnosable with anything on that spectrum. Btw I also don't think it's necessarily right to say Chapman was 'cold', there's sourced stuff in article pointing out that he was in some ways over-sensitive and e.g. did commended work helping kids etc, could be affected by guilt, sense of failure etc. Which is not to detract obviously from the fact he could obviously be angry & bitter & vengeful & psychotic & obviously homicidal. But personally I think it doesn't sound as if the judge properly considered whether he had the mental competence to change his plea to guilty in the first place. EverSince (talk) 01:39, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Syntax and symantics

The article states, "Chapman developed a series of obsessions, including artwork, The Catcher in the Rye, music, and John Lennon, and started hearing voices again." It is not previously mentioned that Chapman had heard voices.

The article quotes James Taylor: "According to Taylor, "The guy had sort of pinned me to the wall and was glistening with maniacal sweat and talking some freak speak about what he was going to do and his stuff with how John was interested, and he was going to get in touch with John Lennon." It appears that the words "and" and "with" have been switched in the part, "what he was going to do and his stuff with how John was interested..." If this is the actual quote it should be followed by a bracketed sic thus demonstrated: [sic]. Luckydagger (talk) 21:25, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Good spot I've altered the wording re. voices to clarify it's referring to the imaginary 'little people' he said he first experienced in his childhood. On the Taylor quote, here's him actually saying it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdwgxSRRPw i think the bit you highlight isn't clear but makes sense with hearing the pause in there. EverSince (talk) 01:12, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Excrement?

The first sentence of this article should be edited to remove the reference to John Lennon as "a piece of excrement"! Perhaps the writer thought they were referring to Mark David Chapman, but in any case , the reference should be removed ! I quote the first line below: "Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955) is an American prison inmate who was convicted of murdering former Beatles member John Lennon, who was a piece of excrement, on December 8, 1980" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.81.119.140 (talk) 13:52, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

More information needed

More information I feel is needed about the relationship he was in with his Asian wife. Okay, so they were together still on the day of Lennon's death? Interesting. Please add that to the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.234.214.63 (talk) 05:39, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

I wish to second this please, more information detailing the clearly loyal relationship between him and his Japanese girlfriend leading up to then even on the day of John Lennon's assassination. I think that information when gathered and presented here could be extremely valuable. (125.238.89.3 (talk) 10:19, 24 June 2013 (UTC))

Gloria Abe Chapman

She was in fact his wife but he allowed her to sleep around with many men for her own balatantly evil self-indulgence. Hah. A review about the woman could be an interesting project, who is up for starting it? unwashedflyer@hotmail.com ... leave it in the kitty.