Nipsey Hussle Killer’s Bid to Reduce Murder Conviction Rejected by Judge

A judge has rejected a request from Eric Holder Jr. — Nipsey Hussle’s convicted killer — to reduce his sentence from first-degree murder to second-degree murder or manslaughter. On Monday, Judge H. Clay Jacke denied a defense motion for a new trial, and scheduled Holder’s sentencing for Feb. 22.

Holder faces a potential term of life in prison. His attorney Aaron Jansen had asked for his client’s conviction to be changed to voluntary manslaughter due to an “inconsistent” verdict.

During the harrowing trial last summer, prosecutors argued that Holder committed classic premeditated murder when he opened fire on Hussle with a black semiautomatic gun in one hand and a silver revolver in the other after the two men had a conversation in the parking lot outside Hussle’s South Los Angeles clothing store about 10 minutes prior.

Jansen argued that his client acted in the “heat of passion” after he believed Hussle had accused him of being a “snitch.”

The jurors ultimately agreed with prosecutors and convicted Holder of murder. But when it came to the two other men wounded in the shooting — Kerry Lathan and Shermi Villanueva — jurors rejected prosecutors’ attempted murder charges and convicted Holder of attempted voluntary manslaughter instead. (Jurors could have gone with a third option, assault with a firearm, but did not.)

“It’s still a lot of time, but at least he would have a chance at a life afterward,” Jansen previously told Rolling Stone.