Trial for Nipsey Hussle’s alleged murderer is set for June 2

Eric Ronald Holder Jr. is accused of fatally shooting the Grammy Award-nominated rapper/entrepreneur in March 2019.

After numerous delays, the trial for Eric Ronald Holder Jr., the man accused of murdering Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle in early 2019, will take place this week.

The Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles posted on its website that the jury trial for Holder is scheduled to begin June 2. The proceedings will take place at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center located downtown.

This April 2019 photo shows Eric Ronald Holder Jr. (left), then 29, at his arraignment with his former attorney, Christopher Darden (right), in Los Angeles. (Photo: Patrick Fallon-Pool/Getty Images)

The trial date in the case against Holder has been changed several times. The trial had originally been scheduled to begin in April 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles County Superior Court Robert Perry pushed its start date to early last year. 

Holder’s trial was then rescheduled twice in 2021, once to May and again to December. Numerous factors led to the delays, including Judge Perry’s retirement and the appointment of a new judge, Clay Jacke. Holder also refused to vacate his cell, further pushing back his pre-trial court date last May. In addition, he had to change his legal representation. 

Originally representing Holder in his defense was Christopher Darden, the attorney best known from the prosecution team in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1995. However, his decision to represent Holder was met with controversy, and Darden withdrew from the case after he and his family received numerous death threats

Holder was arrested days after allegedly fatally shooting Nipsey Hussle on March 31, 2019. The Grammy Award-nominated rapper and entrepreneur was gunned down in the parking lot of The Marathon, the clothing store in South Los Angeles’ Crenshaw district that he founded in 2017, reportedly on the very day he was scheduled to meet with Los Angeles Police Department brass to explore ways of stopping gang violence.

Hussle, 33, was highly regarded in the music industry and his community, thanks to his charitable contributions, including building new businesses in his former neighborhood.

Holder, then 29, was arrested on April 2, 2019. He was charged with 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.

He entered a plea of not guilty. If convicted, Holder faces a life sentence.

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