The former speaker of New York's Assembly has started his prison sentence, while the man who gunned down John Lennon has been denied parole again.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 76, reported to a federal prison on Wednesday in Otisville, NY, after he was sentenced earlier this year to 6 1/2 years behind bars in a corruption case that toppled his longtime position as one of the most powerful politicians in the state.
The former Democratic leader was ousted as speaker in 2015 and convicted later that year, but appeals had kept him out of prison. In the part of the case that survived the appeal process, Silver was convicted in a scheme that involved favors and business traded between two real estate developers and a law firm.
Meanwhile, New York state corrections officials said Wednesday that Mark David Chapman was interviewed by a parole board Aug. 19, but denied parole for an 11th time. Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in Alden.
Chapman, who is now 65, shot and killed the former Beatle outside his Manhattan apartment on the night of Dec. 8, 1980, hours after Lennon autographed an album for him. He has since repeatedly expressed remorse over what he calls a "senseless" act.
