G.Dep Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison, Conflicted Juror Speaks On Conviction...

Maybe you haven't been paying attention to the G.Dep (Trevell Coleman) case -- I haven't.  Once this man turned himself in for shooting (attempted murder) a man in 1993 while high on PCP, I couldn't help but find him a fool.  When I found out that he had battled a severe drug addiction after a failed rap career, turned his life around, got married, and had kids, I found him even more a fool for what came next.  This man, did the "honorable" thing by walking into a police station and confessing to shooting a man 19 years ago.  However, come to find out, that man died, by the hands of that gun G.Dep wielded infront of him 19 years ago.  Police never found the guilty party and shelved the case, probably for good.  This is one of the saddest things
 I've ever seen an "honorable" black man do to himself.and for himself at the same time.

Sir, you didn't think this out well at all.  You could have atleast did some research to find out how the guy you shot was doing, before you turned yourself into police.  You walked into that police station knowing you had a wife and kids.  You knew you could be convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to prison life for some time.  In what state aren't the courts actively throwing the book at black males?  I just find this act more selfish and disheartening a situation, then honorable.

 

"...we the jurors wrestled with a mess of things, but couldn't avoid the evidence. I sometimes wondered if I was fit to judge this man who was capable of acts of public violence and personal honor I couldn't even imagine having to wrestle with. And I'd think: Hasn't this man suffered enough? He's done twenty years in his head already. That's a slower, more infernal form of justice, the interior kind, isn't it?

And yeah, tell that to the guy he killed.

We found him guilty, because he was, and no one's excusing anything. (After the trial, he talked to MTV and, sounding like a man unburdened, thanked "everybody that was involved in the case.") Still, it's a heavy feeling: I helped put him away, and yet when I think of someone who did his duty, I think of Trevell Coleman."

Read More GQ.com

A lot of people are calling this the honorable thing to do, but I can't help but be a bit upset.  Some things in life balance out the way they do for a reason.  With all the innocent deaths at the hands of unconvicted and uncharged officers, all the innocent black men in prison, just, all the Yin in this world, you Sir, in my opinion, were a Yang.  Now you're a Yin.  Your kids are a statistic.  They may be a statistic of a good father who did the "right" thing in the eyes of yourself and many, but I wonder how they, your wife, and your family feel about this outcome.  I atleast hope you are awarded the opportunity to be paroled in a few years. 

Honestly, I'm just torn and I wonder if I should be.  You committed a murderous act and should be punished, yet it seems you've already been punished enough at the hands of a higher power.  You tormented yourself with 19 years of guilt over this heinous act, and now you'll pay another 15 years for it in a cell.  Are you really an honorable person for doing your "duty".  Better yet, is that truly an "honorable" duty given our corrupt justice system?  Is it more or less honorable than a Priest being forgiven for unthinkable crimes during a simple confession to one of his peers?  They leave it up to God.  Am I wrong to kind of wish you had too?  I'm sure the victim and their family would disagree with this, and they'd be 100% right.