Editing Mark David Chapman (section)

==== Sentencing hearing ====
The sentencing hearing took place on August 24, 1981. Two experts gave evidence on Chapman's behalf. Judge Edwards interrupted Dorothy Lewis, a research psychiatrist who was relatively inexperienced in the courtroom, indicating that the purpose of the hearing was to determine the sentence and there was no question of Chapman's criminal responsibility. Lewis had maintained that Chapman's decision to change his plea did not appear reasonable or explicable, and she implied that the judge did not want to allow an independent competency assessment. The district attorney argued that Chapman committed the murder as an easy route to fame. Chapman was asked if he had anything to say, and he rose and read a passage from ''The Catcher in the Rye'' in which Holden tells his little sister Phoebe what he wants to do with his life:

{{Quote|I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.}}

The judge ordered psychiatric treatment for Chapman during his incarceration and sentenced him to 20 years to life, five years less than the maximum sentence of 25 years to life.Murder of John Lennon