In closing arguments, a prosecutor urged jurors to convict Holder of first-degree murder for a 'personal' attack on Hussle outside the musician's clothing store near Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.
Holder's attorney also contended that the case has "been over-charged from the beginning," and that the correct charge against Holder involving the rapper's slaying should be voluntary manslaughter -- an option Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke told jurors earlier they could consider.
Hussle was a "successful artist from the same neighborhood as Eric Holder, who's an unsuccessful artist," the prosecutor said. McKinney told the panel Hussle joined a gang as a youngster, changed over time and "wanted to change the neighborhood," but remained accessible without an entourage, security or fanfare while standing outside his business when he was shot by somebody with whom he had shaken hands just minutes before on "just another beautiful Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles."
Jurors heard eight days of testimony during the trial, which was delayed for a day Tuesday following what Holder's attorney said was an attack on Holder in jail. Dr. Lawrence Nguyen -- who reviewed the results of the autopsy done by another medical examiner who is unavailable to testify -- told jurors that he concluded the cause of the rapper's death was "multiple gunshot wounds."
During the defense's portion of the case, private investigator Robert Freeman told jurors that being called a snitch could put a gang member at risk of being beaten or killed. He noted that it would be more dangerous for an accusation about snitching to be made against someone in public where others could hear it and that something said by someone with a high status within a gang is "almost gold" on the streets.
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