More than three years after the violent death of US rapper Nipsey Hussle, a 32-year-old man has been found guilty of murder in Los Angeles. After a trial that lasted several weeks, the jury returned a guilty verdict. The perpetrator acted with intent, he faces life imprisonment.
In the trial of the murder of US rapper Nipsey Hussle, the defendant has been found guilty. The jury at the Los Angeles court on Wednesday found it proven that 32-year-old Eric H. murdered the rapper on the street in March 2019.
During the trial, the defendant did not deny the crime, but his lawyers argued that he acted with emotion and not with intent. The prosecution described the course of events differently: According to this, the perpetrator returned ten minutes after an argument with the rapper with weapons in both hands and then shot the musician.
Hit by at least ten bullets, 33-year-old Nipsey Hussle collapsed outside the fashion store he opened in his south Los Angeles neighborhood. The crime was recorded by a surveillance camera. H. initially fled in a car, but was then arrested by the police. In court, the then 29-year-old initially pleaded not guilty. He was represented by Chris Darden, one of the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpsons. Eric H. faces life imprisonment, the sentence is to be announced on September 15th.
Hussle, real name Ermias Asghedom, came from a gang-ridden area of Los Angeles. The rapper started his music career in the underground hip-hop scene. For a long time he was not very successful commercially, but his first studio-produced album "Victory Lap" brought Hussle a nomination for a Grammy for best rap album.
Friends, fans and relatives of the shot rapper said goodbye to the musician at a large funeral service in April 2019. According to US media reports, more than 20,000 people came to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Thousands lined the streets as the coffin carrying Hussle's body was driven 25 miles through several Los Angeles neighborhoods after the memorial service. According to police, deadly shots were fired from a moving car: one person was killed and three others injured.
