LOS ANGELES — A Crips gang member was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison Wednesday for killing beloved rapper Nipsey Hussle outside his clothing store in 2019.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke sentenced Eric Holder Jr. to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering Hussle and an additional 25 years to life based on a sentencing enhancement because he used a gun in the slaying. Holder must serve an additional 10 years in prison on assault convictions for shooting two other men who were with Hussle on the day of the killing, Jacke said.
Holder, 32, was on a date with a woman who would become his unwitting getaway driver on March 31, 2019, when he approached Hussle, in front of the Marathon Clothing store near Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles' Crenshaw neighborhood.
The two had a brief conversation, but Holder returned minutes later with two handguns and opened fire in the middle of the parking lot, killing Hussle, whose legal name was Ermias Asghedom, and wounding two other men nearby.
Hussle’s death sparked more than a week of citywide mourning. While Hussle was celebrated nationally for his Grammy-nominated record “Victory Lap,” locally he was seen as a philanthropist and key community figure who had reinvested in the Crenshaw neighborhood he often rapped about. Hussle owned and operated several businesses in the area, including the clothing store he was killed outside of.
Herman Douglas, a close friend of the rapper better known as “Cowboy,” said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing that Hussle’s murder had torn a hole in the community, leaving people who once relied on Hussle desperate for work.
“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,” Douglas said. “All our stores are closed down. The whole community relied on Nip.”
The assault was captured on video, and there was no question Holder was the gunman when trial started last year. Instead, defense attorney Aaron Jensen argued Holder should be convicted of manslaughter, rather than murder. His client, Jensen said, became incapable of rational thought after Hussle mentioned there might be “paperwork” on him, slang referring to records indicating Holder had cooperated with police.
Holder and Hussle were both members of infamous Rollin’ 60s set of the Crips street gang. Jansen argued that being accused of snitching by someone of Hussle’s stature, in front of other gang members in the heart of Rollin’ 60s territory, “triggered” his client.
“This was not just a pleasant conversation between homies who are chopping it up … this was a serious accusation,” Jansen said during his closing argument last year. “Mr. Holder Jr. took it serious, as it was. He knows the consequences of being called a snitch in this manner.”
Deputy District Attorney John McKinney, however, said Holder was fueled by jealousy. The 32-year-old also was a fledgling rapper, recording tracks under the monicker “Fly Mac.” But his work gained next to no attention, while Hussle’s 2018 record “Victory Lap” was nominated for a Grammy.
Douglas, who served as a key prosecution witness at trial, said Holder‘s argument that the mere mention of “paperwork” would make him fear for his life was based on an outdated understanding of L.A. gang culture.
“Nowadays there’s so many snitches walking around. … That’s a myth. You could walk out a gang right now. We don’t care if you walk out of the Rollin’ 60s, we ain’t gonna do nothing to you,” he said. “Me getting on the stand right now would be considered snitching. ... I ain’t worried. Maybe in the ‘80s, yeah. But this is 2022.”
On Wednesday, Jansen argued Holder suffered from severe mental illness, reading a letter from the defendant’s father that claimed he had been diagnosed with auditory schizophrenia at the age of 19. Jansen said Holder 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.”
Jansen did not raise a mental health defense during trial, leading McKinney to object to the testimony of Holder’s psychologist during the sentencing hearing. Jacke ultimately stopped the woman from taking the stand.
Douglas started singing “hit the road Jack” as Holder was led away, leading the judge and deputies to admonish him and order him out of the room.
