Killer’s slim chance
Trimmer John Lennon murderer Chapman up for parole again
ALBANY — He’s not the walrus anymore.
Famously pudgy killer Mark David Chapman looks strikingly thinner — not to mention older and a bit balder — in his latest prison mugshot, obtained by the Daily News.
The May photo of John Lennon’s assassin shows a starkly different Chapman — up for his seventh shot at parole this week, almost 32 years after he gunned down the pacifist ex-Beatle.
Chapman, 57, is now listed as 5-feet-10 and 191 pounds — 35 pounds less than he weighed in 1995.
He looked even heavier in the familiar mug shot taken after Lennon was murdered on Dec. 8, 1980, in front of horrified wife, Yoko Ono.
Rock’s royal couple was headed into their home at the Dakota near Central Park after a late-night recording session.
It’s unclear how Chapman shed the pounds.
Perhaps he’s watching the wheels go round on the jailhouse treadmill during his allotted three daily hours outside his cell at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo.
Chapman transferred to the prison from Attica in May, and was placed in protective custody against his will.
The model inmate, who has not had a prison incident report against him since 1994, wanted to join the general population — but prison officials deemed it too dangerous. Chapman spends most of his time locked alone inside a 9-by-7-foot concrete cell with a TV that he bought and library books that are delivered.
Unlike at Attica, where he worked as a porter and assisted other inmates in a prison law library, Chapman does not yet have a job at Wende.
He can shower three times a week and enjoy his outside recreation time.
Chapman has the option of eating two of his three meals outside his cell — but has so far opted to dine alone, officials said.
Ono remains adamant that Chapman stay locked up, and again submitted a letter imploring the Parole Board to deny his release.
Her appeal cited fear for her family’s safety — as well as worries for Chapman’s own, a source close to Ono told The News.
“Her position has not changed,” the source said. “She would prefer the man not be given parole. She has reiterated to the Parole Board what she has said in the past.”
The killer is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree e murder.