As we approach the anniversary date of Nipsey Hussle's murder, his alleged killer's trial is also gearing up to begin. It was March 31, 2019, when Eric Holder allegedly shot and killed Nipsey as he stood in front of his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles. Holder was taken into custody within days and prosecutors have been building a case against one of the most hated men in hip hop.
According to The Real Whirl Podcast, they recently spoke to Holder and recorded the conversation. During the brief chat between Terrell Foster and Holder, the podcast host recognized that Holder couldn't say much because the case is active. "I'm on the case right now so I can't really speak," Holder said. "Imma keep your number. Imma call you after this go to trial. After trial when I find out everything Imma hit you up and holla at you for sure, bro." Foster then told Holder that he'd make sure to keep money on that phone line so they could stay in contact.
The host also told Holder that throughout this last year, people haven't been concerned with hearing his side of the story, so he wanted to make sure that Holder had a place to speak freely. "He reached out to me and Eric Holder called me," the host told his viewers. "He said he wants to talk to me and he wanna tell his side of the truth. He wanna tell you exactly what happened the day with Mr. Nipsey Hussle. R.I.P. to Nipsey Hussle. God rest Nipsey Hussle's soul. I never did a video related to Nipsey Hussle. I'm not gonna lie. A lot of YouTubers ate it up. They took it and ran with it. People didn't even know who the hell Nipsey Hussle was until after he got killed."
"Nipsey Hussle was a damn good artist. I hate that he didn't get a chance to enjoy his accolades while he was here," the host added. Unsurprisingly, the exchange was met with backlash, so Foster returned to his YouTube page to set the record straight for his critics.
Back in May 2019, Holder entered a not guilty plea on charges of murder, 2 counts of attempted murder (for the other victims injured in the shooting), possession of a firearm by a felon, and two counts of assault with a firearm. He was being represented by Christopher Darden, one of the prosecutors from the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. Darden later stepped down from representing Holder, sharing that his family was receiving threatening messages.
"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," Darden said at the time. "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."
It's believed that Holder's attorneys will use his mental instability or illness as the crux of their defense. Undoubtedly, the world will be watching. In the meantime, listen to Eric Holder's brief jailhouse phone call with The Real Whirl Podcast below.