According to court officials, the jury reached a ruling in the trial of Eric R. Holder Jr., who was charged with murder in the 2019 shooting of Los Angeles-based rapper Nipsey Hussle.
A jury sitting in the Los Angeles County Superior Court will return to court and announce the verdict at 1:30 pm eastern.
The decision was made after the jury met within an hour on Wednesday, the second day of the deliberation. The panel started on Friday, but had just returned from a four-day weekend to resume discussions on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Forts Criminal Justice Center, opposite the Los Angeles City Hall.
Witnesses described a murder case that went far beyond the world of West Coast hip-hop in a murder trial that lasted for just over two weeks.
Hustle, whose real name is Elmias Asgedum, was shot dead on March 31, 2019, outside a clothing store in South Los Angeles, at the age of 33. Two bystanders were injured in the attack. Two days after the shooting, Mr. Holder, then 29, moved to a mental health clinic, his lawyer said in a trial. Mr. Holder was subsequently charged with felony first-class murder, attempted murder, and possession of firearms. He was acquitted and detained on behalf of $ 6.5 million on bail.
At the trial, a Los Angeles County prosecutor alleged that two old acquaintances, Mr. Holder and Mr. Hustle, who belonged to the same street gang, happened to meet in a strip mall parking lot. We worked with law enforcement agencies, which are considered serious crimes in the gangster world. A few minutes later, prosecutors and witnesses said Mr. Holder returned with two pistols and began firing repeatedly.
Aaron Janssen, a public lawyer on behalf of Mr. Holder, admitted that his client had triggered during the trial. However, lawyers claimed that the crime was “passionate” and unplanned, as the prosecutor accused.