Rapper Travell “G-Dep” Coleman has been granted clemency by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
In 2010, the rapper walked into a New York police precinct and admitted to committing a nearly two-decade-old cold case murder to clear his conscience.
Coleman has now served 13 of a 15-year-to-life sentence. With his sentence being commuted, he will now be allowed to seek parole earlier than his original 2025 date.
Gov. Hochul granted 16 individuals clemency by Hochul in an announcement made Friday. They include 12 pardons and four commutations. It’s the third time Hochul has granted clemency this year.
“Through the clemency process, it is my solemn responsibility as governor to recognize the efforts individuals have made to improve their lives and show that redemption is possible,” Hochul said in a written statement.
The rapper earned an associate’s degree while in prison and facilitated violence prevention and sobriety counseling programs, while also participating in a variety of educational and rehabilitative classes, the Govenor’s office said. His clemency application was also supported by the prosecutor in his case and the judge who sentenced him, ABC New reported.
During his rap career, G-Dep had hits with “Special Delivery” and “Let’s Get It.” He was one of the rising stars of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records label in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Attorney Anthony L. Ricco said at the time that Coleman “had been haunted” by the 1993 murder of John Henkel and stepped up to confess to shooting someone as a teenager during a robbery in East Harlem. The victim was shot three times in the chest outside an apartment complex.
