Eric Holder, the man accused of shooting and killing Nipsey Hussle in March of 2019, has been convicted of first-degree murder, according to Rolling Stone. Although there was no doubt that Holder pulled the trigger, the crux of the case was whether Holder acted deliberately when he walked up to Nipsey outside the Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles on March 31, 2019, and opened fire with two guns. Holder’s defense maintained that because the crime was not premeditated, he could only be found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge. Apparently, the jury disagreed.
The details have been widely reported; after a short disagreement between the two men in which Nipsey reportedly noted that Holder, was rumored to have been an informant for the LAPD, Holder left the store and returned nine minutes later, shooting Nipsey in the head, chest, and legs. Nipsey was pronounced dead at the hospital just hours later. Although Holder’s defense argued that being accused of snitching enraged Holder beyond rational thought, making his actions a crime of passion, prosecutors said that the nine or ten minutes it took Holder to return was more than enough time to cool off and that Holder was motivated more by pre-existing jealousy of Nipsey, who was also a member of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips to which Holder belonged in his youth.
Holder’s sentencing will likely take place at a later hearing. In California, the maximum penalty can be 25 years to life; the death penalty is currently suspended.
Nipsey Hussle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
