The man on trial for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle was absent from court Tuesday after he suffered a beating in jail, a report said.
Eric Holder, 32, was attacked by two inmates after he was transported back to the facility after he left court around 4 p.m. on Monday, his public defender, Aaron Jansen, told Rolling Stone.
Jansen said Holder, who required medical treatment for his injuries, was cut to the back to his head with a razor.
“His face is swollen and his eye is swollen,” Jansen told the magazine.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jack told jurors Tuesday the day’s session was canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances,” and asked them to return Wednesday unless they hear otherwise.
Defense attorney Aaron Jansen told the magazine outside of the courtroom that the delay was “medical” related, but was not due to COVID-19.
It’s not clear exactly where the accused killer was attacked. Holder has been ordered to be kept separately from other inmates when he’s being transported, Rolling Stone reported.
Holder’s murder trial began earlier this month, over three years after he allegedly gunned down Hussle — whose real name is Ermias Joseph Asghedom — outside of his Los Angeles clothing shop, The Marathon, in May 2019.
He allegedly walked up to Hussle, 33, while he was speaking to a group of men and opened fire with an automatic handgun, hitting him 11 times and injuring two other people. Video shows Holder kicking Hussle’s head while he was on the ground bleeding.
Jansen admitted in his opening remarks that his client did shoot Hussle, 33, but denied that it was premeditated.
“This is a case of heat of passion,” Jansen told jurors. Hussle, he said, “made an accusation against Mr. Holder that he was a snitch.”
Both men grew up in the same neighborhood and were affiliated with the same street gang — the Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips in South Los Angeles.
Ten minutes before the shooting, Hussle and Holder had a short conversation in which the rapper warned him of a rumor circulating that he had been cooperating with law enforcement and giving up names, Hussle’s close friend Herman Douglas testified.
Holder didn’t seem upset when Hussle told him about his concerns, he said.
Holder’s former gal pal Bryannita Nicholson testified last week that she had driven Holder to a restaurant in the same shopping complex as Hussle’s store.
Nicholson said she heard Holder say to Hussle in a loud voice, “Did you say I snitched,” before walking away from the rapper and two other men. After Hussle and Holder talked, Holder got back in the car and asked Nicholson to drive around the block twice.
After passing the store a second time, he began loading his gun inside the car, she said. He told her to park in an alleyway, took two bites of chili cheese fries and walked in the store.
Moments later Nicholson said she heard gunshots and debated fleeing but was worried that Holder was hurt. He got back in the car and yelled at her to drive away from the alley and saw him put two guns in a bag.
Nicholson, who was intimate with Holder but had only known him for a month, said she didn’t realize Holder might’ve been involved with the shooting until after he spent the night and saw news reports of Hussle’s death.
Holder faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
When court resumes, Holder’s defense is expected to call two witnesses to the stand and take less than a day before closing arguments, Rolling Stone reported.
