Nipsey Hussle Murder Suspect Assaulted, Unable to Attend Trial

Nipsey Hussle‘s accused killer was reportedly assaulted in jail sometime within the last 24 hours.

Eric Holder, the man charged with killing the beloved Los Angeles rapper in March of 2019, was attacked by another inmate on Monday (June 27), according to a Rolling Stone report published on Tuesday (June 28). The assault reportedly occurred after 4 p.m. yesterday as Holder was moving from the courtroom back to his cell. The incident allegedly left Holder with “more than a black eye” and unable to attend his Tuesday court hearing.

“Based on some unforeseen circumstances that are no fault of parties here, we won’t be in session today,” the judge said to the jurors today. Jurors were informed to return to court tomorrow.

XXL has reached out to Eric Holder’s defense attorney for comment.

Holder is facing one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in relation to the killing of Nipsey Hussle on March 31, 2019. A full three years after the killing, the trial started earlier this month. Holder is accused of shooting Nipsey 10 times in the parking lot of the rapper’s Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles, allegedly due to Nipsey calling out Holder for snitching. Two other people standing near the rapper were also shot during the encounter but survived.

Last week, the woman who drove Holder to and from the shopping center testified that she was an unknowing getaway driver in the incident. According to the witness, Bryannita Nicholson, 35, she drove Holder to the shopping center to get something to eat when they noticed Nipsey in the parking lot. Nicholson later testified she heard Holder ask Nipsey, “Did you tell somebody I snitched?”

When he returned to the car and began eating food he bought, Holder directed Nicholson to pull behind the shopping center before telling her he would be back, according to Nicholson’s testimony. After hearing gunshots, Nicholson said Holder came powerwalking back to the car and told her to drive off. It wasn’t until later, Nicholson testified, that she realized what happened after seeing news of Nipsey Hussle‘s death. Holder was arrested three days later. He was officially charged on April 4, 2019.

Holder’s defense attorney, Aaron Jansen, has labeled the incident as a crime of passion and not worthy of a premeditated murder charge. Closing arguments for the case are expected to start on Wednesday (June 29).