Mark Chapman up for parole this week.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 3:25pm

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1503&e=3&u=/afp/us_music_lennon

Mark Chapman, the murderer of John Lennon is up for parole this week having served 24 years of a 20 to life sentence.

I was just wondering what all the anti-death penalty, pro-forgivness people in the forum have to say about that.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 3:28pm

When I was a kid, Manson was up for parole for the first time. I was convinced he was gonna get out and come right to my little town and get me.

[Guido Contini]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 3:35pm

funny you should say that Rath...his parole is coming around again soon. Personally, I think they should let him out.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:01pm

I'm sure not anti-death penalty. If I was, it would only be because dying is too merciful for some of the assholes in the system who deserve to rot in hell/prison.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:09pm

Reminds me of the Charles Manson joke in Robin Williams Live On Broadway.

"What would you do if you got out, Charles?" "I'd kill everybody!!!" "Baaack ya go."

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:11pm

Robin Williams is a genius. That is all.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:17pm

Well, I *am* against the death penalty. And frankly, if Mark David Chapman has conquered his demons, is remorseful for what he has done, and it rehabilitated to the the point where his thinking is no longer so twisted that he is likely to kill someone else, I have no problem with his being paroled. And I say that as someone who took John Lennon's death very hard. He was arguably the first man I ever love, albeit from afar.

It seems to me that his parole should be determined by the same measures as anyone else who is up for parole... is it worse to have killed Lennon than, say, the shopkeeper down the street?

As far as Manson. That guy is too scary for words. I say, just throw away the key.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:19pm

I have a feeling some crazed Beatle fan will kill Chapman if he gets out. I think a lot of the time these people are better off behind bars where no one will get them, even if they are remorseful.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 6:24pm

I don't think Mark Chapman should be punished more so just because he killed John Lennon. But because (if I'm correct), the last 2 times he's been up for parole, he still hasn't shown any remorse about what he's done.

I do think he'll be in a whole lotta danger if he's released though. Doesn't it say in that article that some of the people who signed the petition to keep him in jail have threatened to finish him off if he's released?

[Guido Contini]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 7:55pm

See here's my philosophy on releasing Manson...first off, he's innocent. He never killed anyone, just convinced others to do so. Secondly...they make a public service announcement of his release... pack his stuff into a bag, pat him on the back, and wish him good luck. Two blocks away...*POW!* a shot to the chest and he's done.(you know someone will be waiting on a roof with a shotgun somewhere) End of story. More space on death row for those who deserve to be there.

[Plum]

Posted: 10/3/04 at 10:12pm

Inciting people to murder is a crime, too, Guido, and often one with penalties almost as harsh as for the murder itself.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 2:56am

If you read anything about Manson's life you would realize that Prison to him IS his natral milieu. I don't think he would ever be able to live in the outside world.
If in San Diego check out the zoo and the Polar Bears.They have gone quite mad in captivity and would not survive in the outside world. They are the Charlie Mansons of the animal world.

Updated On: 10/4/04 at 02:56 AM

[Guido Contini]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 4:22am

yes Plum...if that were not the case Manson wouldn't be where he is now. I was only being merely silly and rather hypothetical. Sorry for the mix-up.

[Caravaggio]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 6:23am

Time for another flower-filled ceremony at Strawberry Fields!

[feinstein9]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 7:22am

if they let him out, i will find him and bite his neck and then burn his body and send the ashes to hell.

edit: i just read the other posts, about crazed beatle fans off-ing him. i think i just proved your point. Updated On: 10/4/04 at 07:22 AM

[lassy]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 7:56am

iflit, you took the words right out of my mouth. I believe most people have the potential to be rehabilitated and I certainly hope Chapman isn't being held in prison longer just he killed a celebrity. As much as we might like to believe otherwise, no one's life is anymore valuable than anyone else's. On the other hand, there are truly pathologically dangerous people, and they should be kept alive away from the rest of society until they die naturally.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:17am

Interesting points by all.

I still think the only problem with the death penalty in this country is that it is not used enough.

A couple years ago George Ryan, the criminal Governor of Illinois who was refused the nomination for re-election by his own party, gave a blanket commute of sentence from death to life to all Illinois Death Row inmates. Many hearalded his action and with a call for him the win the Nobel Peace Prize. One of the people sentenced to death to whom he gave a commute was convicted fo breaking into a home and brutally killing three people to steal 10 bucks to buy some crack. Now I ask you doesn't that focker deserve to die? Meanwhile, a former underling of George Ryan's made a deal with Federal prosecuters and testified against Ryan so he will probably go to prison and prehaps get killed by one of the people he "saved" before he gets the Nobel Prize.

[mominator]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:19am

This man murdered someone (this man just happened to be famous)
He should be treated no differently, than any other person convicted of the same crime. BUT I do feel that when one IS convicted of 1st degree murder, you go to jail and stay there for the rest of your natural life.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:11am

He's up for parole? So what!