New York Governor Grants Clemency to Rapper G. Dep, Who Confessed to Murder and Spent 13 Years Behind Bars, Surrendering to Police Almost Two Decades After the Crime.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul awarded mercy to rapper Travell ‘G. Dep’ Coleman, who confessed to a nearly two-decade-old murder. After voluntarily surrendering to a New York police precinct in 2010, Coleman, 49, served 13 years of his 15-year-to-life sentence.

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Rapper G. Dep Granted Early Parole Opportunity in Governor Hochul’s Clemency Wave

Coleman can apply for parole two years early thanks to Governor Hochul’s decision. The Democratic governor awarded clemency to 15 others in this round, her third in 2023.

Coleman, convicted in 2012 for murdering John Henkel in 1993, may be released early. Governor Hochul pardoned 12 and commuted four before the holiday weekend.

Hochul believes the clemency process recognizes people’s attempts to change their lives and shows atonement is attainable. The assistant district attorney and judge who condemned Coleman supported his application. Coleman completed an associate degree and participated in violence prevention and sobriety therapy programs in jail. His educational and rehabilitative seminars helped win his clemency.

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G. Dep’s Journey, Crime, and Clemency Decision

G. Dep was a rising star on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Bad Boy Records label in the late 1990s, with singles like ‘Special Delivery’ and ‘Let’s Get It.’ His career declined in late 2010 after many drug and trespassing arrests.

At the time, attorney Anthony L. Ricco said John Henkel’s 1993 murder tormented Coleman. Coleman confessed in a police station on December 15, 2010. He admitted to shooting Henkel, a father of three, outside a Harlem apartment building aged 18. He said he was remorseful and tortured.

The victim’s brother opposed clemency, but it shows the intricacy of cases requiring remorse, rehabilitation, and redemption.

READ ALSO: Rapper G. Dep granted clemency by New York governor after spending 13 years in prison for murder he admitted to by turning himself into police nearly two decades after crime