A former contestant of a reality TV show was sentenced on Friday to 50 years to life in prison for murder, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.
Jamal Rashead Trulove, 29, received the sentence for the July 23, 2007, shooting death of 28-year-old Seu Kuka, of San Francisco, according to a release from the office of District Attorney Kamala Harris. Trulove was sentenced in San Francisco Superior Court by Judge Carol Yaggy.
A jury on Feb. 9 found Trulove guilty of first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The jury also found “true” the allegation that the defendant personally inflicted death or great bodily injury on the victim by using a gun, according to the district attorney.
The prosecution of Trulove was based on the sole cooperative witness to the slaying that occurred in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood, according to the district attorney.
The witness testified she saw the victim Kuka chasing Trulove’s brother in the 100 block of Blythedale Avenue in the Sunnydale Housing project. During the chase Kuka ran by Trulove and knocked him to the ground, according to the district attorney.
The eyewitness testified that Trulove stood up and shot Kuka three times in the back.
Trulove then ran up to the victim and shot him six times in the head at close range, according to the district attorney.
The eyewitness testified that about 25 people saw the shooting.
San Francisco Police homicide inspectors Michael Johnson and Maureen D’Amico investigated the slaying. Assistant district attorney Linda Allen prosecuted the case.
Trulove in 2007 appeared on the VH1 program, “I Love New York 2,” in which several suitors compete for the affections of reality TV star Tiffany “New York” Pollard. Trulove, who while on the show went by nicknames of “Milliown,” “True,” and “Jamal Bryant,” was dismissed by Pollard after the first episode after he got into an argument with another contestant, according to the district attorney.
Trulove was arrested in October 2008 in Seaside on a $5 million murder warrant, according to the district attorney.
