Rapper Nipsey Hussle's Murder 'Premeditated' And Not In 'Heat Of Passion,' Says Lawyer

The fatal shooting of celebrated rapper Nipsey Hussle was premeditated, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney John McKinney said.

Eric Holder Jr. is accused of killing Hussle in March 2019. During his trial Wednesday, McKinney maintained that Holder shot the rapper with the intention of killing him.

While Holder's camp claimed that the death of Hussle was not deliberate, McKinney said there was "no doubt" that the suspect had thought out his actions before shooting the victim. The attorney also showed the jury a video from the aftermath of the shooting as bystanders tried to revive Hussle outside his clothing store in South Los Angeles.

An initial investigation revealed that Hussle and Holder had a heated argument before the shooting. Following the altercation, Holder left the store, returned about night minutes later and repeatedly shot Hussle. Holder's actions were captured on security cameras.

The suspect's attorney, Aaron Jansen, told the court that the killing of Hussle was "a case about the heat of passion." He said the victim accused his client of "snitching," which caused Holder to become "so enflamed and enraged." The lawyer claimed Holder shot Hussle "without thinking" and without any time to "cool off."

"The heat of passion in this case relates to snitching," said Jansen. "In the gang world, in the criminal world, there are images from movies, 'Scarface,' where rats, or snitches, have gotten their just desserts."

McKinney denied the claims and argued that Holder had enough time to think about his actions before he committed the crime.

"You're going to hear and see evidence that he had plenty of opportunity to think about what he was going to do before he did it," he explained. "From the time he got out of the car and all the way back to that strip mall and walked up to those gentlemen and started shooting and shooting and shooting."

Hussle was shot 10 times outside Marathon Clothing in South L.A. on March 13, 2019, with some of the bullets hitting his spinal cord and lungs. His lawyer said the rapper would have been paraplegic even if he survived.