Eric R. Holder Jr., 32, shot and killed the rapper Nipsey Hussell after a brief encounter in a Los Angeles parking lot in which Hussell sparked rumors in the neighborhood that Mr. Holder had cooperated with law enforcement. Credit… Pool photo by Frederick M. brown
More than three years after the fatal shooting of rapper Nipsey Hustle, whose 2019 killing outside the local clothing store he owned scarred the South Los Angeles neighborhood he had devoted his life to protecting, a jury on Wednesday found Eric R .Holder Jr. guilty of first degree murder in the case. The verdict closes a painful page in hip-hop’s recent history.
During the trial, prosecutors described the shooter as an embittered acquaintance who belonged to the same street gang as Hussell but felt disrespected by him during a brief confrontation in the parking lot.
That Mr. Holder pulled the trigger was not disputed in court. His own public defender and numerous witnesses identified him as the assailant who opened fire on Hussle with two handguns, striking the rapper at least 10 times before kicking him in the head.
But Mr Holder’s legal team argued the case was overblown. Aaron Jansen, the public defender representing Mr. Holder, said the killing was not premeditated but was instead committed in “the heat of passion,” about nine minutes into a conversation in which Hussell referred to neighborhood rumors that Mr. Holder had cooperated with law enforcement, or being an informer, a serious crime in the gang world, and urged him to come clean.
Mr Holder should have been charged with premeditated murder, his lawyer said.
After meeting for less than an hour on the second day of deliberations, the jury’s decision to find Mr. Holder guilty of first-degree murder showed that they agreed with Los Angeles County prosecutors that Mr. Holder took the decision to kill Hustle when he returned to the car after their initial conversation, loaded a gun, took a bite of a few fries and then walked back across the parking lot to confront the rapper.
Mr Holder, 32, could face up to life in prison. He will be sentenced at a later date.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder stemming from the two bystanders who were wounded in the shooting, lesser charges than the attempted-murder charges brought by prosecutors.
Mr. Holder’s lawyer argued that his client had not intended to hurt either of the injured men, and both were strangers to him when he attacked Hussell outside the Marathon clothing store in Crenshaw, where the rapper and his assailant were grown up.
In addition, Mr. Holder was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
In court, Mr. Holder stared straight ahead without flinching. He was wearing a navy blue suit and white sneakers, as well as a black coronavirus mask. There was no sound in the courtroom as the verdict was announced—no reaction from the half-full gallery.
Hussle, whose real name is Ermias Joseph Asgedom, was widely mourned after his death at 33 as a principled artist and entrepreneur who transcended his early years as a member of the local Rollin’ 60s Crips to emerge as a tough, motivational lyricist and community ambassador . His public memorial in April 2019 at what was then known as the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles drew about 20,000 fans, including Stevie Wonder and Snoop Dogg. In a letter read aloud, former President Barack Obama called the rapper’s life “a legacy worth celebrating.”
Although he hasn’t been a commercial hitmaker for most of his career, Hussle is known for his extensive industry connections and independent business acumen, having sold music on his own terms — including the limited edition $100 mixtape “Crenshaw ” – for 15 years before releasing his major label debut, “Victory Lap,” in 2018. Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album and management partnership with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation late in life they made the rapper go deeper into the mainstream.
Along the way, Hussell had also preached black empowerment through business and education, investing his earnings as a musician in the neighborhood where he grew up. With a group of backers, Hussle purchased the strip mall at the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Avenue that housed his Marathon store, while helping to open a nearby co-working space dedicated to increasing diversity in science and technology.
On the Sunday afternoon when Hussell was killed, he had stopped by the shopping plaza for an unannounced visit, as he often did, according to court testimony. While meeting friends and employees in the parking lot, Hussle spent about half an hour signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.
At the time, a woman Mr. Holder was casually dating drove him around the area, that woman, Brianita Nicholson, testified. A key prosecution witness who said she transported Mr Holder to and from the scene of the shooting, Ms Nicholson was granted immunity from prosecution for her court appearance.
When Ms. Nicholson pulled into the plaza so that Mr. Holder could get something to eat, she spotted Hussell in the parking lot and remarked in passing that he looked handsome, she told the stand. After ordering fries nearby, Mr. Holder, a fellow member of the Rollin’ 60s Crips, approached Hussle for a quick chat while Ms. Nicholson waited in the car, she said.
The meeting between the two men was casual and low-key, according to witnesses. But prosecutors said Hussell told Mr. Holder that there were rumors around the neighborhood that he was snitching. Hussle encouraged Mr. Holder to “get the documents” showing he had not, said John McKinney, the Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case.
“It just seemed like a normal conversation,” Mr McKinney told the jury. “But apparently it wasn’t.” He called the couple “two men whose arcs in life bent in different directions.”
In his closing arguments, Mr. Jansen, the defense lawyer, nodded to Hussell’s authority in the community, suggesting that the rapper’s fame made his encounter with Mr. Holder, an aspiring musician, all the more upsetting.
“Eric’s state of mind is, ‘I’m in this group, I grew up with them in the neighborhood, and now Nipsey Hustle is outing me as a snitch,'” Mr. Jansen said.
When the two men finished talking, Ms Nicholson said she overheard a conversation about snitching as she approached Hussell for a selfie, which she posted on Facebook. This will be the last picture of the rapper. Asked in court if she sensed a fight was coming, Ms Nicholson said: “No, I wasn’t scared at all.”
When Ms. Nicholson pulled into another nearby parking lot so that Mr. Holder could eat, she testified, he pulled out a gun and began loading it. He walked back to Hussell’s shop; a little later Mrs. Nicholson hears gunshots.
According to witnesses, Mr Holder confronted the rapper outside and said: “You’re done” when he opened fire.
“You got me,” Hussell said, according to the prosecutor. Two men who were standing with Hussell, Kerry Lathan and Shermy Villanueva, were wounded by the shots.
In his opening statement, Mr. McKinney, the prosecutor, portrayed Ms. Nicholson as a kind of unwitting accomplice. “I think you’re going to find a naivety in her, a simplicity,” he said. On the witness stand, Ms Nicholson mostly answered questions with a calm yes or I don’t know. Mr. Holder mostly avoided her eyes or looked at her impassively as she testified.
When Mr. Holder got back into her car, Ms. Nicholson said, he told her to drive or he would hit her. That evening she learned of Hussell’s death. But Ms. Nicholson said it wasn’t until more than a day after the shooting, when her mother recognized her white Chevy Cruze on the news, that she realized Mr. Holder might be involved.
Mr McKinney stressed that Ms Nicholson quickly agreed to cooperate with police, allowing authorities access to her phone data and submitting to hours of interviews. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is my reputation too,'” she testified.
As well as being the agreed-upon motive for the shooting, the concept of snitching – and its enormous importance in gang culture – looms large over the trial itself. Although Mr. Holder was repeatedly identified as the shooter, lawyers for both sides cited the reluctance of some witnesses to testify in detail or even appear in court for fear of retribution.
“I don’t know anything, I don’t see anything,” Mr Lathan, who was injured in the incident, said during his turn on the witness stand.
“You don’t want to testify about what happened?” asked the prosecutor.
“Exactly,” said Mr. Lathan.
Cedric Washington, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, said the problem is common, even outside of gang cases. “Everybody seems to think that once they come to court, they’re going to be retaliated against,” he testified.
But prosecutors relied in part on the testimony of Herman Douglas, known as Cowboy, a former member of the Rollin’ 60s who worked at Hussle’s Marathon store.
Mr. Douglas testified that even though he was no longer involved in gang life, he still kept a watchful eye on every car and person that crossed his path for signs that they might be dangerous. At no point during Hussell’s conversation with Mr Holder, he said, did he feel the rapper was at risk. “I would get him out of there,” Mr. Douglas said.
When the defense questioned Mr Douglas about whether there could be consequences as severe as “being beaten up or even killed” for whistleblowing, Mr Douglas said that was unlikely. He noted that his participation in the trial could be perceived by some as whistleblowing. But things had changed since he came to the neighborhood.
“I’m not worried,” he said. “Maybe in the 80s, yes, but…
Add Comment