The John Lennon documentary, “John Lennon: Murder without Trial,” airing on AppleTV+ on Wednesday (December 6, 2023), features new interviews with eyewitnesses who witnessed the tragic events in December 1980. Among them is Mark Snyder – The taxi driver picked up Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman, in the taxi that evening and drove him to the Dakota Building, where Chapman fired five shots at the Beatle.
“You will remember my name”
Snyder: “The first thing he said to me was, ‘I’m a producer for the Rolling Stones. I just got back from a recording session with the Beatles. “They’ve all gotten back together again'”. Chapman was carrying a duffel bag and was also furiously leafing through the pages of a notebook in the back seat. “I looked in the rearview mirror and there were just blank pages in his book.”
But the most frightening part of Snyder’s memory: As the ride came to an end, Chapman came to the driver’s side window to pay his taxi fare. “He said, ‘My name is Mark David Chapman. They’re going to remember my name,'” Snyder recalls.
The “most thorough research to date”
According to the official description, the AppleTV documentary is the “most thorough research to date” in the murder case. Not only would exclusive interviews with eyewitnesses and close friends of the musician be shown, but discussions would also be held with the defense lawyers, psychiatrists, investigators and prosecutors of Mark Chapman, who fired the fatal shots . In addition, previously unpublished crime scene photos will be shown in the series. The producers – including David Glover (“9/11: A Day in America”) and Mark Raphael (“Crime and Punishment”) – obtained all the information from the New York police, the parole board and the prosecutor’s office – by relying on American Freedom of Information Act, which allows the press access to all documents.
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial is narrated by Kiefer Sutherland and examines the shooting of Chapman and its aftermath. The title refers to the fact that Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on the eve of his trial, after which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.