Eric Ronald Holder Jr., 33, The man who murdered Nipsey Hussle in a daylight ambush outside the rapper’s clothing store in Los Angeles was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison. Holder appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday, Feb. 22, and received his punishment after his conviction last July. Jurors found that he murdered Nipsey with premeditation following an initial conversation in a strip-mall parking lot on March 31, 2019. During the hearing, the court heard from one of Hussle’s friends, as well as a letter from Holder’s father. Holder was not eligible for the death penalty, and a life sentence was largely expected. It was reported that during the trial last summer, prosecutors argued that Holder Jr. left the scene of the initial conversation and ate some food, and drove around the block before he stalked back to the parking lot about 10 minutes later and opened fire with a black semiautomatic in one hand and a silver revolver in the other. Public defender Aaron Jansen argued that Holder Jr. acted in the “heat of passion” because he believed Hussle had accused him of being a “snitch.”
The conviction for first-degree murder and personal use of a firearm meant Holder Jr. was facing up to 50 years to life in prison.
“The streets he used to run as a young man became the life material that he used to become a voice of those same streets. While some people get successful, they make money, they leave their neighborhood, they change their address, this man was different. He wanted to change the neighborhood. He invested in the neighborhood. He kept the same friends and the neighborhood loved him. They called him Neighborhood Nip,” McKinney said.
“He was a father, he was a son, he was a brother, he was a human being,” the prosecutor said, showing jurors a photo of Hussle crouching down to take a photo with a young child just moments before his death.
