Skip to main content

G. Dep Murder Trial Now in the Hands of NY Jury

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on April 16, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Manhattan prosecutors in the G. Dep murder trial warned jurors that they would be given two conflicting accounts of the crime. Born Trevell Coleman, G. Dep was once an up and coming rapper signed to Bad Boy Records.

When he tried to relaunch his career in 2010, he decided he needed to do so with a clear conscience. He walked into a local police precinct and confessed to a 1993 murder. But he and his lawyer say that he's been charged with the wrong killing.

Closing arguments happened on Monday and jurors began deliberating on G. Dep's fate, XXL reports. The are set to come back to the jury room Tuesday morning.

Strangely, it took G. Dep two trips to the station for officers to decide he was telling the truth. When a detective was put on the case, the Associated Press reports that a search of records turned up one incident: the murder of John Henkel.

Henkel was shot with the same kind of gun, at the same location and at the same time of day, prosecutors told the jury. But G. Dep's Manhattan criminal attorney Anthony Ricco says the rest of the facts don't match up.

The rapper says he shot someone in February or March of 1993, but the New York Daily News reports that Henkel was killed in October. He described the victim as blond, clean-shaven and wearing a plaid coat. Henkel had brown hair, a beard and wore a beige leather coat.

The verdict in the G. Dep murder trial will hinge on these differences. Jurors will need to decide whether they believe the defendant or if he is remembering wrong. They cannot convict him of John Henkel's murder simply because he confessed to killing someone in 1993. Defendants can only be convicted of the crimes the committed, and if G. Dep didn't commit this one, he must go free.

Related Resources:

Copied to clipboard