John Lennon's killer doesn't deserve freedom despite filmmakers' efforts

I recently watched John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial on Apple TV and, as a Beatles diehard fan, I kind of hated it. It’s simply tough to look at or even think about his murderer Mark David Chapman. I don't even think this movie is necessary to see for Beatles completists. I can still remember the deep hurt I felt as a 10-year-old listening to the news about John's death in December 1980. I clung for months (maybe years) to my Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey albums - both enjoying those releases immensely and constantly wondering what we were all missing by having one of my heroes no longer in the world to feed the love.

My biggest complaint with the new release is that the filmmakers inexplicably seem to have sympathy for Mark David Chapman. I may not be the most impartial person on the matter, but there is no way Chapman should ever be free amongst the rest of us again.

Some of the people interviewed in the film say he probably wouldn’t still be in prison if he would have killed someone else. But that too is a scary thought, knowing how many untreated people have been released from prison after serving time for violent crimes and are out again roaming the streets, completely undiagnosed, and completely unhelped.

The movie touches on how sad our healthcare system is for people with mental illnesses, and briefly notes the need for gun control. It’s difficult to even fathom how far we still have to go as a species to get these issues right.

Chapman vehemently didn’t want to go into a mental hospital, which is why he pleaded guilty all those years ago. Although he now says, through lots of time in solitary confinement at Attica, God has healed him and brought him back to sanity from his admittedly younger schizophrenic self, there sadly appears to still be no place for him other than prison. He's unfortunately very hard to feel sorry for,

2.5 out of 5 stars