It was nearly three decades ago when legendary songwriter/singer/musician John Lennon was gunned down in front of his apartment building in New York City. This week, Lennon’s killer was denied parole for the fifth time.

The parole request was denied this time, as it has been denied in the past, “due to concern for the public safety and welfare.” Lennon’s killer was sentenced to twenty years to life by the state of New York. The murder took place on December 8, 1980.

Lennon’s killer will not be named in this article, per the request of former Beatle (and Lennon’s songwriting partner) Paul McCartney and Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono. When John Lennon was shot and killed, the two asked in a joint statement that the killer’s name never be repeated or printed. To do so would only give him the notoriety which he sought.

The killer’s prison record has remained exemplary during his incarceration, but as recently as 1994 he stated in a parole interview that he executed “the premeditated slaying of John Lennon with an essentially clear mind.” On the day of the shooting, the killer met the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the street and shook his hand.

Since the sentencing and subsequent incarceration of Lennon’s killer, many campaigns have been waged by Yoko Ono and various Beatles/Lennon fans to keep the killer behind bars. A petition with 1,100 signatures and 50 letters speaking out against the killer’s release arrived at the New York state Division of Parole for this most recent parole hearing. Three letters were sent which supported his release.

The killer has been denied parole in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and now 2008. He will be eligible to apply for parole again in 2010. He is held in an isolated unit, separate from the general prison population. This is more for the killer’s safety than that of the other inmates. He currently spends his days doing legal research in the facility’s law library, works as a porter inside the prison and cleans up in some administrative areas. He is allowed to receive conjugal visits with his wife, and has done so for the last 16 years.

Lennon’s killer is obsessed with the book The Catcher in the Rye, and had the paperback on his person at the time of the shooting. Each of his parole hearings have lasted less than 1 hour. New York’s Strawberry Fields houses a large memorial garden in Central Park as a tribute to Lennon. Fans of the man gather here annually on his birthday and during other events, such as the death of Beatles bandmate George Harrison.