Bryannita Nicholson, who had been casually seeing the defendant, Eric R. Holder Jr., testified that she had pushed him to and from the scene of the taking pictures, offering one of many prosecution’s key accounts of the episode.
The day of the taking pictures had began unremarkably, she testified. She and Mr. Holder had met a little bit greater than a month earlier, when she was driving part-time for Lyft and picked him up as a fare. Within the weeks that adopted, she mentioned, they grew nearer, and she or he would usually drive Mr. Holder throughout outings in Lengthy Seaside or Los Angeles, to the seaside, to the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. Their relationship was informal, she mentioned.
On the day of the taking pictures, Ms. Nicholson testified, the pair have been headed to a close-by swap meet. Ms. Nicholson was given immunity from prosecution for her testimony.
When Ms. Nicholson pulled right into a procuring plaza that day in order that Mr. Holder might purchase chili cheese fries, she mentioned, she noticed Nipsey Hussle standing exterior his retailer, Marathon clothes. She marked to Mr. Holder that she thought Hussle was good-looking, and that she wished to get an image with him. Mr. Holder didn’t point out that he knew the rapper from the neighborhood, she testified.
She approached Hussle, who was surrounded by a bunch of males, to get a selfie, she testified. It could be the final {photograph} of the rapper.
Some witnesses have testified that Hussle had warned Mr. Holder there have been rumors circulating that he had cooperated with regulation enforcement, or snitched. Ms. Nicholson testified that she had heard Mr. Holder ask Hussle if he had snitched, however that Hussle appeared to be brushing him off. She mentioned she returned to the automotive and pulled into a close-by alley so Mr. Holder might eat, she mentioned.
Mr. Holder then pulled out a handgun, which Ms. Nicholson testified alarmed her, however she had beforehand mentioned she believed he had weapons for cover.
Mr. Holder then obtained out of the automotive and left his fries on the hood of a close-by truck, she mentioned. A short while later, Ms. Nicholson mentioned, she heard gunshots.
When Mr. Holder obtained again into her automotive, she testified, he instructed her to drive or he would slap her. She testified that she didn’t understand at that time that he might need been the shooter. That night time, she testified, she agreed to let Mr. Holder keep at her mom’s residence along with her, and she or he later helped him examine right into a motel utilizing her identification.
It wasn’t till greater than a day after the killing, when her mom acknowledged Ms. Nicholson’s white Chevy Cruze on the information, that she realized that Mr. Holder might need been concerned, she testified.
“I hoped he did not have one thing to do with it,” Ms. Nicholson instructed John McKinney, the prosecutor within the case, throughout her testimony. “I used to be a nervous wreck on the time.”
In his opening assertion, Mr. McKinney had portrayed Ms. Nicholson as a form of unwitting confederate.
“When Ms. Nicholson testifies, take note of her,” he mentioned. “I feel you may discover in her a naïveté, a simplicity.”
Mr. McKinney emphasised that Ms. Nicholson had shortly agreed to cooperate with the police. She allowed the authorities to entry information from her telephone and she or he submitted to hours of interviews.
“I used to be considering, ‘Oh my god, that is my fame, too,'” she testified in court docket.
Aaron Jansen, Mr. Holder’s public defender, requested Ms. Nicholson about some minor discrepancies between her earlier accounts and ones she gave on the stand: the colour of a truck the place Mr. Holder left his fries, whether or not Hussle had instructed Mr. Holder “to, like, chill.” (Ms. Nicholson responded that Hussle’s demeanor had been “chill,” and mentioned that he had not instructed Mr. Holder to settle down.)
On the witness stand, Ms. Nicholson principally answered questions with a relaxed “sure,” or “I do not know.” Mr. Holder, who wore a grey swimsuit with a faint windowpane sample, principally averted her eyes or checked out her dispassionately.