A Harlem rapper's stunning confession in a 17-year-old cold case murder came as he began making amends in a 12-step detox program, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Trevell Coleman -  a once-successful rap artist who was signed by P. Diddy -  was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Tuesday, a week after telling cops that he a shot a man in 1993.

What Coleman, who went by the name "G.Dep," didn't know when he showed up to talk to 25th precingt investigators was that his victim had died.

His lawyer said he came forward in an ongoing effort to pus his life on a righteous path.

"The power of the 12 step program and making amends," Coleman's criminal defense lawyer, Michael Alperstein, said.

"He's trying to remake his life," the lawyer said of his married client who has young twin children. "He's trying to clean up."

Alperstein said Coleman, 36, shot Henkel three times in the chest in a robbery gone bad  shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 19, 1993, at 114th St. and Park Ave.  with   a .40 caliber handgun.

"He didn't know that he killed the guy, but he knew he did something wrong -  he's been going to church his whole life," Alperstein continued.

Alperstein said Coleman went to the 25th police precinct twice in an attempt to confess - and that incredulous cops didn't take him seriously at first.

"They told him to come back," the lawyer said.

Cops gave  a different version.

A police source said  that Coleman was "high as a kite" when he came in the first time over the summer. Investigators tried unsuccessfully to interview the incoherent Coleman, and then he asked to leave, the source said.

G.Dep, short for Ghetto Dependent, has struggled with hard-core drugs and is in Narcotics Anonymous, Alperstein said.

The bald-and-bearded rapper's supporters, including his wife, mother and pastor, were in Manhattan Criminal Court as prosecutors announced he'd been indicted, his lawyer said.

Coleman faces 25-years-to-life in prison if convicted.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/12/21/2010-12-21_onetime_harlem_rapper_trevell_coleman_who_was_signed_by_diddy_fessed_up_to_17yea.html#ixzz18rrQMRYq



I think the pastor wanted to love off him wife..

that why he kept pushing for the confession..