Brian Nita Nicholson, who casually met defendant Eric R. Holder Jr., testified that she had sent him in and out of the shooting scene and provided one of the key explanations for the prosecution’s episode.
She testified that the day of the shooting began inconspicuously. She and Mr. Holder met a little over a month ago when she was driving part-time for Lyft and she picked him up for a fare. In the weeks that followed, they often approached and took Mr. Holder to the beach, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, while on the road at Long Beach and Los Angeles. She said their relationship was casual.
On the day of the shooting, Nicholson testified and the pair headed for a nearby exchange. Nicholson was exempt from prosecution for her testimony.
She said she found Nipsey Hussle, a marathon outfit standing outside the store when Nicholson pulled to a shopping plaza that day to buy chili cheese fries. She told Mr. Holder that Hustle was handsome and wanted to take a picture with him. Mr. Holder did not show that he knew the rapper from the neighborhood, she testified.
She testified that she approached a hustle surrounded by a group of men to take a selfie. This is the last photo of the wrapper.
Some witnesses testified that Hustle warned Mr. Holder that rumors that he had cooperated with or eavesdropped on law enforcement agencies were widespread. Mr Nicholson testified that he had heard Mr Holder ask if he had tapped Hustle, but Hustle seemed to drive him away. She said she returned to the car and pulled into a nearby alley so that Mr. Holder could eat.
Mr. Holder then pulled out his pistol. Mr Nicholson testified that she was surprised, but she had previously believed that he had a gun for her protection.
After that, Mr. Holder got out of the car and put the french fries in the hood of a nearby truck, she said. After a while, Nicholson said he heard a gunshot.
When Mr. Holder returned to her car, she testified, he told her to drive, otherwise he would slap her. She testified that she was unaware that he might have been a shooter at that time. That night she testified and agreed to have Mr. Holder stay with her mother’s house, and later she used her ID to help him check in at the motel. ..
When her mother recognized Nicholson’s white Chevrolet Cruze in the news, more than a day after the killing, she realized that Mr. Holder could be involved, she testified.
“I hoped he had nothing to do with it,” Nicholson told the case’s prosecutor, John McKinney, in his testimony. “At that time, I was a nervous shipwreck.”
In the opening statement, McKinney described Nicholson as a kind of unconscious accomplice.
“When Nicholson testifies, pay attention to her,” he said. “I think you’ll find her simple and simple in her.”
McKinney emphasized that Nicholson immediately agreed to cooperate with the police. She allowed authorities to access the data from her phone and responded to hours of interviews.
“I thought,’What a hell, this is also my reputation,'” she testified in court.
Mr. Holder’s elected counsel, Aaron Janssen, asked Nicholson about the slight differences between his previous account and the account he offered at the stand. The color of the truck where Mr. Holder placed the french fries, whether Hustle told Mr. Holder. I like to chill. (Mr. Nicholson said Hustle’s attitude was “calm” and did not instruct Mr. Holder to calm down.)
From a witness’s point of view, Nicholson usually calmly answered the question “yes” or “don’t know.” The holder, wearing a gray suit with a faint windowpane pattern, almost avoided his eyes and stared calmly.
