After several delays, Nipsey Hussle‘s alleged killer has a new trial date. Eric Holder — the man accused of murdering the Crenshaw rapper in March 2019 — is finally set to stand trial on January 5, 2022, a Los Angeles County judge announced on Wednesday (September 22).
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Holder’s current lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Aaron Jansen, told Rolling Stone his client is “nervous, but he knows it’s time to get the case moving to trial.”
Jansen also said Holder was experiencing “a substantial mental health issue” following the death of his mother and was “off his medication” the day of the shooting, which tragically claimed the life of Nipsey Hussle and left two others wounded.
Nipsey Hussle’s murder trial has faced numerous delays, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The high-profile case was originally scheduled to go ahead in April 2020 before being postponed until early 2021 due to the courts being disrupted by the virus, Judge Robert J. Perry said in December 2020.
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In May, the murder trial was pushed back again, but that time it was due to Holder’s own doing after he refused to leave his cell. Then in July, the trial was delayed until December 2021 amid the retirement of its previously assigned judge and Holder’s defense attorney, famed O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden, stepping down after receiving threats to his family.
Eric Holder has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of felony possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of Nipsey Hussle. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.
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According to court documents, Holder allegedly fired at least 10 rounds into the Victory Lap artist from a black semiautomatic handgun in one hand and a smaller silver revolver in the other outside of his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on March 31, 2019.
Following the flurry of shots, Holder allegedly kicked Nipsey in the head before fleeing the scene, a police detective testified.
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The bullets also struck bystanders Kerry Lathan and Shermi Villanueva, who survived the attack. Holder then allegedly hid out in a motel and was arrested two days later in nearby Bellflower, California.
In March, Eric Holder attempted to get his bail reduced from $6.5 million to $2.5 million, claiming he poses no risk to the general public, but his request was denied the following month.
