The 1980 murder of John Lennon and the investigation of his killer Mark David Chapman are to be the subject of a new three-part series narrated by Kiefer Sutherland.
Apple TV+ described John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial as “the most thoroughly researched examination of John Lennon’s 1980 murder, which shocked and saddened the world”.
Lennon was murdered in December 1980 in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. Chapman, who shot five hollow-point bullets from a .38 special revolver, confessed to killing Lennon. He was sentenced to between 20 years and life in prison.
The series will include previously unseen footage, including eyewitness accounts and crime scene photography, as well as interviews with Chapman’s psychiatrists, lawyers, detectives, and prosecutors – alongside accounts of some of those close to Lennon.
Apple TV+ said that the team behind the documentary were given “extensive Freedom of Information Act requests from the New York City Police Department, the Board of Parole, and the District Attorney’s office” while making the series.
Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, has not commented on the documentary. It is not clear whether she participated in its making. The Guardian has contacted her representatives.
Chapman traveled from Hawaii to New York on 8 December to murder Lennon. Earlier that day, he spotted the Beatles star and asked him to sign a copy of Double Fantasy, the new album by Lennon and Ono.
During his parole hearings, Chapman admitted to feeling conflicted about committing the murder on the day. “It wasn’t all totally cold-blooded, but most of it was. I did try to tell myself to leave. I’ve got the album, take it home, show my wife, everything will be fine,” Chapman said in 2012. “But I was so compelled to commit that murder that nothing would have dragged me away from that building.”
In 2022, Chapman was denied parole for the 12th time. It has been reported that Ono, who was with Lennon on the day of his death at a photoshoot for Rolling Stone magazine, frequently requests for Chapman to remain in prison. Chapman is entitled to another parole review in 2024.
Currently, the docuseries has no confirmed release date.