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Rapper Nipsey Hussle in 2018
Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
A California man has been sentenced to at least 60 years in prison for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle.
A jury found 32-year-old Eric Holder Jr. guilty of the 2019 murder of Hussle outside a south Los Angeles clothing store owned by the rapper.
This was reported by the news agencies Reuters and AP as well as the Los Angeles Times.
Accordingly, Judge H. Clay Jackie of the Los Angeles County Superior Court Holder sentenced Hussle to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder and an additional 25 years to life in prison on an aggravated sentence for using a firearm.
Holder is serving an additional 10 years for assault for injuring two bystanders.
The court reportedly found it established that Holder shot Hussle at least 10 times in March 2019 after accidentally hitting him in the neighborhood where they both grew up.
After a brief chat, Holder walked away and returned about ten minutes later and opened fire, killing 33-year-old Hussle and wounding the two bystanders.
Public defender Aaron Jansen admitted, according to Reuters, that Holder killed Hussle.
However, he argued that he should not be convicted of first-degree murder because the assault was not premeditated.
Jansen said Holder acted in "affect" after Hussle told him there were rumors he was making statements to the police.
According to the report, Holder himself did not testify during the trial.
Posthumous Grammys
Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, and Holder had known each other for years.
Hussle, from Crenshaw, had said he had joined a gang as a youth and has been open about his experiences as a member of the Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips.
He later became an entrepreneur, finding success with rap music and collaborating with artists such as Snoop Dogg and Drake.
Most recently, he supported the southern districts of his city.
A large part of his earnings flowed into the parts of the city where he spent his youth.
He also campaigned for a kind of reconstruction project for the districts.
In 2020, Hussle won two posthumous Grammys, including one for Racks in the Middle, which was released just weeks before his death.
dam/AP/Reuters
