Eric Holder Jr. was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison on Wednesday (February 22) for the 2019 murder of beloved rapper Nipsey Hussle.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke sentenced the Crips gang member to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering the rapper, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom.
Eric Holder Jr. received an additional 25 years to life based on a sentencing enhancement because he used a gun.
He must also serve an additional 10 years in prison for assault for shooting and wounding two other men who were with Nipsey on the day of the killing.
Eric Holder Jr. was on a date with a woman on March 31, 2019, when he approached Nipsey Hussle in from of the Marathon Clothing store near Saouson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.
Following a brief exchange, Holder left and returned minutes later with two handguns and opened fire in the middle of the parking lot, killing Nipsey Hussle, and wounding two men who were nearby.
Holder’s attorney Aaron Jansen argued his client suffered from severe mental illness.
He read a letter from the defendant’s father that claimed he had been diagnosed with auditory schizophrenia at the age of 19.
Jansen said Eric Holder Jr. often heard voices in his head that made him paranoid and erratic, describing a situation where he threw a heavy weight through a window just three weeks before the shooting in a manic episode because he “feared he would be murdered.”
During the trial, Jansen made no mention of Eric Holder Jr.’s alleged mental health.
During the sentencing hearing, Herman “Cowboy” Douglas, a very close friend of the slain rapper said Nipsey’s death tore a hole in the community.
Our community right now, we lost everything. Everything we worked for. … thousands of jobs we don’t have no more.
Homies don’t have nothing to do.
They backsliding, they robbing people now. All our stores are closed down.
The whole community relied on Nip.
Cowboy began singing “Hit the Road, Jack,” as Eric Holder Jr. was led out of the courtroom.
Sending my love and prayers to the family of Nipsey Hussle.
Source: LA Times
