Rapper G Dep Jailed For 20-Year-Old Murder

Former Bad Boy Records rapper and Sean "Diddy" Combs' protege G Dep has been jailed for a murder dating back 20 years.

The East Harlem shooting was a cold case that was only solved when the rapper walked into a police station in 2010 and turned himself in so he could "square himself with God".

The 37-year-old father of three - whose real name is Trevell Coleman - now faces 15 years in prison.

"I told him to not regret his decision and that God won't abandon him," defence lawyer Anthony Ricco said.

"Trevell Coleman is a very courageous person. He has a conscience and a heart, and his conscience and his heart brought him to where he is today."

Coleman's confession had been so startling that police initially did not believe him.

He told them that when he was 18 he bought a handgun. Looking for easy money he tried to mug a stranger who had been standing alone on a Harlem corner.

Coleman fired three shots at his victim as they grappled over the gun, he told officers.

He then asked whether the man he had shot as a teenager lived or died.

Authorities quickly matched the confession to the 1993 shooting of John Henkel - a shooting that had gone utterly cold.

Cops then broke the bad news to Coleman, who had gone on to some success in his 20s as a protege of Sean "Diddy" Combs, with hits including Special Delivery.

Henkel, 32, had died almost immediately, officers told him.

After the verdict was read, Coleman's wife, who had urged him not to confess, ran from the court in tears.

"Eighteen years ago, the defendant made a calculated decision to steal from, shoot, and kill an innocent person on the street," the district attorney said in a written statement.

"While nothing can bring the victim back, with this verdict a case that was open for nearly two decades is now closed."