Brianita Nicholson testified that she drove Eric R. Holder Jr. to the mall where Nipsey Hussell was shot. After the killing, crowds of people paid their respects at the mall. Credit… Rosette Rago for The New York Times
Brianita Nicholson, who happened to be seeing the defendant, Eric R. Holder Jr., testified that she drove him to and from the scene of the shooting, providing one of the prosecution’s key accounts of the episode.
The day of the shooting began inconspicuously, she testified. She and Mr. Holder had met just over a month earlier, when she was driving part-time for Lyft and took him as fare. In the weeks that followed, she said, they became closer, and she often drove Mr. Holder on outings to Long Beach or Los Angeles, to the beach, to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their relationship was casual, she said.
On the day of the shooting, Ms. Nicholson testified, the two were headed to a nearby swap meet. Ms. Nicholson was granted immunity from prosecution for her testimony.
When Ms. Nicholson stopped at the mall that day so Mr. Holder could buy chili cheese fries, she said, she noticed Nipsey Hussell standing outside his store, Marathon Clothing. She remarked to Mr. Holder that she thought Hustle was handsome and that she wanted a picture with him. Mr. Holder did not indicate that he knew the rapper from the neighborhood, she testified.
She approached Hussell, who was surrounded by a group of men, to take a selfie, she testified. This will be the last picture of the rapper.
Some witnesses testified that Hussell had warned Mr. Holder that rumors were circulating that he was cooperating with law enforcement or snitching. Ms. Nicholson testified that she heard Mr. Holder ask Hussell if he snitched, but Hussell appeared to deny it. She said she got back in the car and pulled into a nearby driveway so Mr. Holder could have a bite to eat, she said.
Mr Holder then pulled out a gun, which Ms Nicholson said alarmed her, but she had previously said she believed he had weapons for protection.
Mr Holder then got out of the car and put his fries on the hood of a nearby truck, she said. A short time later, Ms. Nicholson said she heard gunshots.
When Mr. Holder got back into her car, she testified, he told her to drive or he would hit her. She testified that she did not realize at the time that he might be the shooter. That evening, she testified, she agreed to let Mr. Holder stay at her mother’s home with her and later helped him check into a motel using her identification.
It wasn’t until more than a day after the killing, when her mother recognized Ms. Nicholson’s white Chevy Cruze on the news, that she realized that Mr. Holder might be involved, she testified.
“I was hoping he didn’t have anything to do with it,” Ms Nicholson told John McKinney, the prosecutor in the case, during her testimony. “I was a nervous wreck at the time.”
In his opening statement, Mr McKinney had described Ms Nicholson as a kind of unwitting accomplice.
“When Ms. Nicholson testifies, pay attention to her,” he said. “I think you’ll find a naivety in her, a simplicity.”
Mr McKinney stressed Ms Nicholson quickly agreed to co-operate with police. She allowed authorities to access data from her phone and submitted to hours of interviews.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is my reputation,'” she testified in court.
Aaron Jansen, Mr. Holder’s public defender, asked Ms. Nicholson about some minor inconsistencies between her previous accounts and those she gave to the court: the color of a truck where Mr. Holder left his fries, whether Hussell told Mr. Holder “about, like, cooling. (Ms Nicholson responded that Hussell’s behavior had been “cool” and said he had not instructed Mr Holder to calm down.)
On the witness stand, Ms Nicholson answered questions mostly with a calm yes or I don’t know. Mr. Holder, who was wearing a gray suit with a pale pattern on the window, almost avoided her eyes or looked at her impassively.
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