Eric Holder, the man charged with murdering rapper Nipsey Hussle in 2019, was assaulted in jail on Monday. According to a report by Rolling Stone, Holder was attacked at around 4 p.m. as he was moved from the courtroom back to his cell. His injuries were so severe that he could not return to the courtroom on Tuesday for his ongoing hearing.
Holder has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for the shooting that killed Hussle on March 31, 2019. The trial was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors, but it finally got underway earlier this month. A jury has been assembled to hear all the evidence and decide on Holder’s guilt or innocence, but in the meantime, he is facing danger in jail as well. All we know of his condition is that the attack left him with “more than a black eye.”
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On Tuesday morning, the judge dismissed the jury for the day. They said: “Based on some unforeseen circumstances that are no fault of parties here, we won’t be in session today.” Jurors were asked to return on Wednesday, indicating that Holder’s condition could improve quickly.
Hussle was shot in the parking lot of his own store, Marathon Clothing in South Los Angeles. The prosecution argues that Holder was the shooter, and that he was retaliating against Hussle who accused him of snitching to the authorities on someone else. Two other people were shot in this encounter and 10 shots were fired in total. The other two victims survived.
Holder has reportedly confessed to shooting Hussle, but his defense attorney Aaron Jansen is trying to avoid a first-degree murder charge. According to a report by XXL, Jansen is calling this a crime of passion rather than a premeditated murder.
The latest bombshell testimony in this case came from 35-year-old Bryannita Nicholson, who said that Holder made her an unwitting getaway driver in this crime. She said that she drove Holder to the shopping center thinking they were just getting something to eat, but that instead he went to confront Hussle. She recalls hearing him ask the rapper: “Did you tell somebody I snitched?”
Nicholson said that Holder directed her to drive behind the shopping center, then told her to wait while he went inside. She said that shortly after the gunshots rang out, Holder came walking quickly back to the car and told her to drive away. She said that she only realized what had happened later on when news of Hussle’s death hit the public.
Closing arguments in Holder’s case begin on Wednesday. There’s no telling how long the jury’s deliberations could last. Fans of Hussle are hopeful for justice after a long and difficult wait.
