Rap mogul Sean Combs' former protege G-DEP is facing life in prison after confessing to a 17-year-old murder.
The hip-hop star, real name Trevell Coleman, turned himself in to police in New York on Wednesday (15Dec10) to admit to the shooting of John Henkel on 19 October, 1993.
Coleman, who was previously signed to Combs' Bad Boy Records, allegedly had no idea Henkel had not survived the incident and he's now been charged with murder.
He tells the New York Post, "I was surprised - for some reason, I really didn't think he died. When they (police) told me, I was like, 'Oh, I'm not going home after this.'"
Coleman, who previously battled drug addiction, claims he was driven to come clean about the altercation because he couldn't live with his guilt.
He says, "I started to wonder if all the bad things that happened to me in my life were karma for what I did... you start to think, 'My happiness is because of someone else's sadness.'
"I thought that if I turned myself in, it might give me closure... I'm just trying to get right with God."
The jailed rapper admits his family, friends and fellow inmates are struggling to understand why he would confess to such an old crime, but Coleman insists he only has one regret about surrendering to cops - leaving his three kids behind with his longtime girlfriend Lyvonnia Copeland.
Coleman began making a name for himself as part of Diddy's Bad Boy roster in the late 1990s and early 2000s, scoring hits with Let's Get It and Special Delivery.