Eric Holder Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder In Nipsey Hussle Killing

On Wednesday, Eric Holder was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2019 killing of Nipsey Hussle after the jury deliberated for six hours.

Eric Holder has been found guilty in the March 2019 killing of Nipsey Hussle. After the jury deliberated for six hours over two days in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday (July 6), 32-year-old Holder – born Eric Ronald Holder, Jr. – was found guilty of first-degree murder of Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Joseph Asghedom.

Along with the first-degree murder verdict, Holder was reportedly charged with two counts attempted first-degree murder because two bystanders were hit by gunfire during the 2019 shooting. Instead, the jury found Holder guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter, according to The Associated Press.

Holder reportedly had no visible reaction to the verdict, as his attorney Aaron Jansen admitted that his client shot Hussle, arguing that it occurred during a "heat of passion." The murder trial was held a little over two weeks after Holder was "assaulted by multiple individuals" in a jail holding cell before being brought to court, Jansen told ABC7.

Holder, an aspiring rapper, was an acquaintance of Hussle, both being members of the same South Los Angeles street gang. Evidence from the March 2019 shooting was exponential, with surveillance footage showing Holder shooting Hussle ten times before kicking him in the head and running away.

Deputy District Attorney John McKinney argued against Jansen's "heat of passion" take, saying that between nine minutes of having a conversation with Hussle to returning to The Marathon Clothing Store was enough time for the shooting to be premeditated.

“He wanted to change the neighborhood,” McKinney said in his closing argument. “He kept the same friends. And the neighborhood loved him. They called him Neighborhood Nip.”