ALBANY, N.Y. -- "Son of Sam" serial killer David
Berkowitz told a state parole board this week he only "vaguely"
remembers gunning down six people in a crime spree that terrorized New York
City in 1977, according to a transcript released Thursday.
Berkowitz, who was denied parole Tuesday in his first chance at freedom, said a
satanic bible he read gave him "twisted" ideas. He said he could not
understand his violent behavior.
"It just happened," he told the two-member board, according to a
30-page transcript of the interview at Sullivan Correctional Facility, about 80
miles northwest of New York City.
"I thought I was a soldier for the devil and all kinds of crazy
things," he said. "At the time, I thought I was pleasing somebody,
you know. It's not going to make sense."
He recalled leaving satanic parties, where he drank wine and smoked marijuana,
to commit crimes, but he denied the drugs influenced him.
Berkowitz, 49, told the panel he didn't deserve parole, should stay in prison
until he dies and only appeared to publicly apologize for his crimes.
"I wish I can go back and change the past. I can't, so I, I came to terms
with this and realize that I'm here in prison," he said.
Berkowitz, a former postal worker, killed six people and wounded seven others
in a shooting spree that began in 1976. His nickname came from a note he left
at one shooting scene that read: "I am a monster. I am the Son of
Sam."
Berkowitz told police after his 1977 arrest that he was following the orders of
his neighbor's dog. He told the parole board his crimes were random, and denied
reports he targeted young couples parked in cars in lovers' lanes and teenage
girls with long, dark hair.
He is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences at the
maximum-security facility in Fallsburg. He will next be eligible for parole in
June 2004.
Berkowitz has tried to commit suicide several times and got into several fights
before his professed conversion from Judaism to Christianity in 1987.
Now, he said, he has no desire to hurt anyone.
"I want to be a blessing to men in here and even the staff," he said.
"I don't even want to so much as get into a fight. I've caused enough pain
and hurt in people's lives."