by The man convicted of making a revolver was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
On Wednesday, after hearing testimony about the massive loss of the hip-hop star and neighborhood leader, Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke II handed down the sentence to Eric R. Holder Jr., who was previously found guilty of the first year 2019 – the degree murder of the 33-year-old Hussle.
It was found during the court proceedings that Holder suffered from mental illness and lifelong abuse.
“I am very careful about what has been presented regarding 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 is balanced.”
RAPPER NIPSEY HUSSLE’S LAST MOMENTS DETAILED AS MURDER TRIAL OPENS
FILE – Rapper Nipsey Hussle attends an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks in Oakland, California, March 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Holder Jr. was shot. Hussle fatally, whose legal name is Ermias Asghedom, outside the clothing store founded by Hussle, the Marathon, in the neighborhood of South Los Angeles in 2019.
A jury found him guilty in July 2021.
The sentence comes after a month-long trial, in which jurors also convicted Holder of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a firearm for the gunfire that struck two other men at the scene.
The other two victims survived their injuries.
Jacke sentenced Holder to 25 years to life for the murder and another 25 years for the firearms conviction.
FILE – Eric Holder Jr. sits. in the courtroom at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on September 15, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Pool via AP)
NIPSEY HUSSLE, GRAMMY NOMINATED RAPPER, SHOT DEAD IN LOS ANGELES
He sentenced Holder to an additional 10 years for the assault as well as firearms convictions.
The judge gave credit to the Holder for the almost four years he already had.
The holder, who was dressed in orange prison garb, stared blankly during the proceedings and did not respond when the sentence was announced. He spoke only to confirm with the judge that he understood the circumstances.
Before the sentencing, prosecutors said Holder and Hussle had a brief conversation after bumping into each other Sunday afternoon outside the clothing store.
The owner left and returned about 10 minutes later and shot Hussle at least 10 times, they said.
Nipsey Hussle attends the 61st Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Herman “Cowboy” Douglas, a close friend of Hussle who was with him the day he was killed and testified during the trial, told the judge that the horror had a profound effect on him and the community of South Los Angeles, where Hussle was a business leader. loss.
“Nipsey was my friend, he was like a son, he was like a father,” Douglas said. “Our community right now, we lost everything, everything we worked for. One man’s mistake, one man’s action, messed up an entire community.”
Douglas said Hussle’s store and the surrounding businesses he owned and supported closed after his death.
ANOTHER CALIFORNIA SHOOTING LEAVES 3 DEAD, 4 INJURED IN RITZY LA NEIGHBORHOOD
Hussle’s friend also told the judge he wanted to know the motivation behind the killing: “I don’t care what you call this man. It’s not about the time. I want to know what why. The world wants to know why. Why would someone do that?”
Nipsey Hussle performs on stage at the Warner Music Pre-Grammy Party at the NoMad Hotel on February 7, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Warner Music)
Public defender Aaron Jansen asked for a lesser sentence of 25 years to life that would provide some chance of release and rehabilitation, describing his client as a victim of physical abuse and childhood poverty.
As an adult, Jansen said Holder suffered a “terrible descent into mental illness” that led to “years of torment and struggle” including harrowing auditory hallucinations.
He added that life behind bars “is going to be brutal (and) it’s going to be short. He’s already received numerous death threats.”
Jansen also read a letter from Holder’s father, Eric Holder Sr. apologizing to the Hussle family and the other victims.
“I know there are not enough words to fill the emptiness, the pain, the deep sadness they feel,” the letter read. “I ask myself every day if I as a father did everything to help Eric Jr. stabilize his mental health.”
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Hussle and Holder had known each other for years growing up in South LA, as both aspiring rappers. Holder never achieved 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, shooting and departure – that Jansen admitted during the trial that Holder shot Hussle and asked jurors find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
After deliberating for six hours, jurors found him guilty of first degree murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
