Eric Holder Jr. was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison for killing GRAMMY-nominated musician Nipsey Hussle last summer.
Judge H. Clay Jacke of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued the sentence on Wednesday, months after Holder’s attorney, Aaron Jansen, submitted many motions that delayed the sentencing. The previous year, Jacke refused Jansen’s requests for a lower sentence and a new trial.
Nipsey Hussle Killer Sentenced
Holder Jr. was found guilty of first-degree murder in July after a three-week trial that had been delayed for years due to the pandemic.
On the second day of deliberations, the jury debated for less than an hour before finding Holder guilty. Holder, who fatally shot Hussle in March 2019, was also found guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter after the incident wounded two innocent bystanders. The witnesses survived.
The prosecution alleged the shooting was deliberate and premeditated. Deputy district attorney in Los Angeles John McKinney stated that there was little doubt that Eric Holder intended to kill Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, after a heated encounter outside the rapper’s Los Angeles clothing store.
In the event, Hussle was shot ten times, with one bullet cutting his spinal cord and three others into his lungs. Even if he had survived, Nipsey would have been paraplegic, according to McKinney.
Jansen, a public defender who took over Holder’s case after former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Chris Darden resigned due to death threats, did not deny at trial that his client pulled the trigger, but he argued that his client should have been charged with voluntary manslaughter because this is a case about passion.
Nipsey Hussle’s Girlfriend Speaks Out
According to Jansen, Hussle had accused Holder of snitching during their heated dispute, and the accusation left Holder so incensed and furious that he acted without thinking and without time to calm off.
Lauren London, who remembered her late boyfriend and the father of her 5-year-old kid, Kross Asghedom, at the late rapper’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony last year, talked up about life after Hussle’s death immediately after Holder’s conviction.
During an appearance on the iHeartRadio show Angie Martinez IRL, London stated that she understands others’ desire to approach her with caution throughout her grief process, stating that she respects it when people are mindful of her moments of vulnerability. However, this sentiment can have a negative aspect.
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