On Friday, Christopher Darden, the attorney representing Nipsey Hussle's alleged killer Eric Holder, announced that he filed a motion to withdraw from the case. In a statement, Darden said that the threats against himself and his family weren't worth the risk, so he made the decision to not continue as Holder's counsel. Following the announcement, Darden later spoke with TMZ on FaceTime about the news, saying the intimidating tactics reminded him of the time he worked as a prosecutor in the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial.
"Well you know it's the same old things," the attorney told TMZ. "It's 1995 all over again, except this time, some folks are upset that I should represent a probable mentally ill African American man charged with murder. I received threats. My family...my children have been harassed and threatened. It's really outrageous. I'm really kind of sick of it. I don't know when people are gonna realize I'm already battle tested."
"I don't play that," he continued. "It doesn't interfere with what I do. I continue to practice law and represent my clients to the best of my ability. But you have these people that are saying these things and really creating security issues for me and my family." He added, "Nobody can bully me. No one can bully me when it comes to representing my clients and doing what I think is right. I'm a lawyer sworn to uphold the Constitution. It's what I do every day, and included in the Constitution it's the Sixth Amendment: the right of every man charged with a crime the counsel of his choice."
"A lot of us are missing the point," Darden said. "When we look at [Nipsey's] death, it is agonizing and painful for all of us. And it was for me. I was posting things about it before I even represented Mr. Holder. If everyone thought that this is not a death that should be in vain, that there is a lesson that should come from it, a movement that should start as a result from it, then that movement ought to include getting rid of the guns. Getting rid of the killers. Getting the guns and the killers off the street of South Los Angeles. And I don't hear that. I hear a lot of wasted rhetoric about Holder's lawyer."
Meanwhile, ABC World News Tonight shared a new video clip of Holder in court as the judge approved Darden's motion. They wrote, "NEW LAWYER: Eric Holder, the man accused of murdering rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle, appeared in court in Los Angeles, where a judge granted Holder’s lawyer Christopher Darden’s request to withdraw from the case and appoint a public defender; Holder remains behind bars on $5 million dollar bail and is expected back in court next month."