Used two handguns during murder
By City News Service
The man who murdered rapper Nipsey Hussle outside the musician's South Los Angeles clothing store was sentenced to 60 years to life in state prison this week.
Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke rejected the defense's request for the lower term of 25 years to life in state prison for Eric Ronald Holder Jr., saying he believed the sentence balances what he was told about the 33-year-old defendant's history and the “devastation'' that was caused by the shooting.
Holder was convicted July 6 of first-degree murder for the March 31, 2019, killing of the rapper, whose real name was Ermias Joseph Asghedom. He was also found guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm involving two other men who were injured in the shooting and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Jurors also found true allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a handgun and that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on one of the two surviving victims.
The judge — who refused in December to reduce Holder's conviction to second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter — sentenced Holder to 25 years to life on the murder conviction along with a consecutive 25-year-to-life sentence on a gun enhancement on that count, as well as an additional 10-year term involving one of the other victims.
Deputy District Attorney John McKinney noted in his sentencing memorandum that Holder “used two handguns during the commission of his crimes'' and “inflicted 11 gunshot wounds with no less than 10 separately fired shots into the body of Asghedom from close range'' and that he “kicked Asghedom in the head while he lay dying on the ground.''
The prosecutor told jurors during the trial that the killing was “cold-blooded'' and “calculated,'' saying Holder had “quite a bit of time for premeditation and deliberation'' before returning to the parking lot near Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard where the rapper was shot.
