The gang member who shot Californian rapper Nipsey Hussle at close range in Los Angeles in 2019 was sentenced on Wednesday, February 22, to sixty years in prison. Eric Holder, 32, had admitted during his trial to having killed Nipsey Hussle, a rising star of American rap. But he claimed to have acted “under the influence of passion”, without having planned his gesture.
A version to which the jurors did not subscribe during his trial. Last July, they found him guilty of murder and thus deemed it a premeditated act.
On Wednesday, the judge responsible for deciding Mr. Holder’s sentence sentenced him to a minimum sentence of twenty-five years for the murder, with an additional twenty-five years due to the use of gun. He was sentenced to an additional ten years for shooting and wounding two other men who were nearby.
Many tributes
The death of Nipsey Hussle in March 2019, at the age of 33, had deeply moved the United States. After the drama, many stars, including Stevie Wonder and Snoop Dogg, had paid tribute to this highly esteemed rapper in the world of hip-hop. Tens of thousands of people attended the ceremony held in his memory in Los Angeles, where a message from former US President Barack Obama was read.
Despite setting up his clothing store in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up, Nipsey Hussle remained tied to the gang world in which he grew up. His killer, Eric Holder, was a member of the Rollin 60’s Crips, an organization the rapper had also belonged to. Before dying, the artist had confronted his killer with rumors that accused him of being a “libra”.
During the trial, the prosecutor had estimated that the assassin had “all the time to premeditate” his gesture. Nipsey Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom into a family of Eritrean descent, was posthumously honored with two Grammy Awards in 2020, for his tracks Racks in the Middle and Higher. In August 2022, he was also awarded a posthumous star on Hollywood Boulevard.
