Nathaniel Glover, professionally known as Kidd Creole, was sentenced, on Wednesday, to 16 years in prison for killing a homeless man in 2017 on a New York City street.
Glover, a founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was found guilty of manslaughter for the death of John Jolly. The 55-year-old homeless man was reportedly stabbed twice in the chest with a steak knife in midtown Manhattan in August 2017.
Jolly and Glover had an encounter while the rapper was heading to work at a copy shop late at night. According to the prosecutor, after stabbing Jolly, Glover then headed to his job, where he changed his clothes and washed the knife. He was arrested the following day.
Michele S. Rodney of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the judge who sentenced Glover, said on Wednesday that she was struck by his openness and remorse in his initial interviews with law enforcement officers after he was arrested. But she said the evidence against Glover was significant. "A life is a life is a life," Judge Rodney said before handing down the sentence, adding that the killing was not "somehow justified because the person is homeless."
The lead prosecutor, Mark Dahl, asked for 18 years, as he claimed he had been struck by Glover's regret. Glover could have been sentenced to 25 years in prison. "I was taken aback by the manner with which he seemed to understand what he had done," Dahl said. Meanwhile, Glover rejected a plea deal that would have resulted in 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused Glover of stabbing Jolly after becoming enraged because he alleged Jolly was gay and was hitting on him. "To tell the truth, I thought he was gay and because I thought he was gay, and he was saying that to me, "What's up," I was thinking that he was thinking I was gay," Glover said in the police interview, adding that he "got a little nervous" when Jolly approached him.
"Mr. Jolly's death was devastating to his family and those who knew him," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a news release after the sentencing. "Every life we lose to violent crime ripples throughout our entire city, and we will continue to ensure everyone in our borough can live their lives with the sense of safety and security they deserve."
