A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday sentenced the man convicted of gunning down Nipsey Hussle to 60 years to life in prison after hearing testaments to the immense impact of the killing of the hip-hop star and neighbourhood leader, and of the lifetime of mental illness, abuse and struggle of the man who shot him.
Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II handed down the sentence to Eric R. Holder Jr., 33, who was found guilty of the 2019 first-degree murder of the 33-year-old Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist outside the Marathon, a clothing store Hussle founded in the South Los Angeles neighbourhood where both men grew up in very similar circumstances.
“I am very mindful of what was presented as to Mr. Holder’s mental health,” Jacke said. “I am also mindful of the devastation caused to the victims and their families. I believe this sentence balances the two.”
After the month-long trial, jurors in July also convicted Holder of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a firearm for gunfire that hit two other men who survived.
Jacke sentenced Holder to 25 years to life for the murder, 25 more for a firearm sentencing enhancement and 10 for assault with a firearm. He set several other sentencing additions and ordered that others run concurrent. He also gave Holder credit for the nearly four years he has served since the shooting.
Impact statement spoke of personal, wider loss
Holder, dressed in orange jail attire, stared straight ahead throughout the proceedings and did not react when the sentence was read. He spoke only when the judge asked if he understood the circumstances and he responded that he did.
In an impact statement before the sentence was handed down, Herman “Cowboy” Douglas, a close friend of Hussle who was standing with him when he was killed and testified during the trial, told the judge that the killing was a tremendous loss both for him personally and for the South Los Angeles community where Hussle was a business leader and an inspiration to others.
“Nipsey was my friend, he was like a son, he was like a dad,” Douglas said. “Our community right now, we lost everything, everything we worked for. One man’s mistake, one man’s action, messed up a whole community.”
The man suspected of fatally shooting Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle in a personal dispute was arrested in a Los Angeles suburb on Tuesday, a day after authorities named him publicly, police officials said.
Douglas said Hussle’s store and surrounding businesses that he owned and supported have been closed, which he said meant that “the Homies don’t have nothing to do.”
He told the judge, “I don’t care what you give this guy. It ain’t about the time. I just want to know why. The world wants to know why. Why someone would do that?”
Hussle and Holder grew up together
Actor Lauren London, who was Hussle’s partner and the mother of his two young children, did not attend any part of the trial, nor did any of his relatives, and none gave similar impact statements.
Hussle, whose legal name is Ermias Asghedom, and Holder had known each other for years growing up as members of the Rollin’ 60s, a gang in South LA. Both were aspiring rappers. But Holder never found the same success as Hussle, who would become a local hero and a national celebrity.
The evidence against Holder was so overwhelming — from eyewitnesses to surveillance cameras from local businesses that captured his arrival, the shooting and his departure — that his attorney Aaron Jansen, conceded during trial that he had shot Hussle. But he argued to jurors that the heated circumstances of the shooting meant a lesser verdict of voluntary manslaughter was merited.
The jury returned with the first-degree murder verdict after about six hours of deliberations.
One year after his death, Hussle was mourned at a memorial at the arena then known as Staples Center, and celebrated in a performance at the Grammy Awards that included DJ Khaled and John Legend.
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