California Court Upholds Conviction of Nipsey Hussle’s Killer, Eric Holder

 A California appellate court has upheld Eric Ronald Holder Jr.’s first-degree murder conviction for the 2019 killing of rapper Nipsey Hussle, born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, outside the artist’s Los Angeles clothing store. Holder, 34, is serving a 60-year-to-life sentence for the murder of the 33-year-old rapper.

The California 2nd District Court of Appeal’s three-justice panel issued a 25-page ruling rejecting Holder’s defense arguments. The court supported the decision of Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke, who previously blocked a portion of the defense's closing argument that suggested Holder’s thoughts and feelings before the shooting. Presiding Justice Elwood Lui wrote, “Appellant did not testify, and no other evidence about what appellant was thinking or feeling prior to the shooting was presented to the jury,” emphasizing that the trial court was within its discretion in limiting the defense’s argument.

The panel also dismissed the defense’s contention that Judge Jacke erred by not dismissing a firearm enhancement, which added 25 years to Holder’s sentence. The court found that Judge Jacke had carefully considered Holder’s history of mental illness and balanced it against the harm caused to the victims and their families, concluding that the enhancement was appropriate.

Holder was convicted in July 2022 of first-degree murder for killing Hussle, as well as two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm for injuring two bystanders. Jurors also agreed that Holder personally discharged a firearm and caused significant injury to one of the surviving victims.

In February 2023, Judge Jacke imposed the 60-year sentence after declining to reduce Holder’s conviction to second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors noted the brutality of the crime, detailing how Holder shot Hussle 11 times from close range and kicked him while he lay on the ground. Defense attorney Aaron Jansen acknowledged at sentencing that Holder’s life in prison “is going to be hell for as long as it lasts,” due to ongoing death threats against him.