An lawyer for the person on trial for killing rapper Nipsey Hussle pressed the lady who says she served because the unwitting getaway driver over errors within the testimony she gave for the prosecution, asking Tuesday whether or not she was mendacity or merely mistaken.
Bryannita Nicholson testified Monday that she had no thought her buddy Eric Holder knew Hussle after they occurred upon the hip-hop star exterior his Los Angeles clothes retailer in March 2019, and had no thought Holder had gone again to shoot Hussle whereas she waited in her automobile in a close-by alley earlier than driving him away.
Holder has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide and two counts of first-degree tried homicide due to two bystanders who have been hit by gunfire.
Holder’s lawyer, Deputy District Lawyer Aaron Jansen, has not denied that his shopper was the shooter, however has instructed there was no pre-mediation because the first-degree cost requires. He has stated voluntary manslaughter was extra becoming.
In his cross-examination of Nicholson on Tuesday, Jansen dwelt on errors and discrepancies in Nicholson’s testimony based mostly on video recovered from the crime scene and her statements to authorities and grand jurors in 2019.
Video proven in court docket contradicted Nicholson’s testimony that Holder had gotten out of her automobile and hurried over to Hussle instantly as they pulled into the parking zone. It as an alternative exhibits Holder calmly strolling right into a neighboring burger place, and solely minutes later making his method throughout the parking zone to Hussle.
“That was inaccurate, proper?” Jansen requested.
“I noticed that within the video,” Nicholson replied.
“However you weren’t mendacity, you simply made a mistake?” Jansen stated, a line he used a number of occasions.
“I used to be parking on the time, so I actually didn’t know,” she answered, “I form of simply thought that he went over there to him first, as a result of I used to be speaking about going over to him to get an image.”
Surveillance video additionally confirmed {that a} truck that Holder put a bag of chili fries on when he returned to the buying middle was white, not crimson as Nicholson testified beforehand.
“You weren’t mendacity about it being a crimson or burgundy truck have been you?” Jansen stated. “You simply made a mistake.”
His questioning remained well mannered, and Nicholson remained unrattled, saying such errors have been inevitable in a trial — delayed by the pandemic and different elements — that took so lengthy to reach.
“Effectively it had been three years in the past, so I suppose I bought the colours combined up,” Nicholson stated. “I wasn’t mendacity.”
Jansen was unable to undermine the central components of Nicholson’s account, however did all he may to poke holes within the reliability of the reminiscence of a key prosecution witness.
Jansen usually introduced up Nicholson’s immunity deal, which protects her from any crimes associated to the taking pictures apart from perjury.
“You’re nonetheless in compliance together with your settlement then?” he requested after getting Nicholson to level out errors. She answered “sure” every time.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Lawyer John McKinney, had sought to move off the protection line of questioning by displaying Nicholson the movies throughout his questioning and getting her to acknowledge the errors.
The protection additionally identified discrepancies in Nicholson’s trial testimony and her 2019 grand jury testimony in regards to the dialog she overheard between Holder and Hussle about “snitching.”
Requested in court docket if Hussle advised Holder he wanted to “chill,” she stated “no.”
Jansen learn from the grand jury transcript, wherein Nicholson testified, “Nipsey was identical to, like, ‘chill’ like ‘no, no,’ like that to Eric.”
Jansen bought Nicholson to acknowledge that she was solely shut sufficient to listen to the lads speak for lower than a minute and was not likely paying consideration as she stood ready to take an image with Hussle, of whom she was an enormous fan.
She additionally acknowledged that she had by no means seen any indicators of violence in Holder, although he did say he “should slap” her when he returned to the automobile after the taking pictures and advised her to drive.
Hussle, a 33-year-old father of two whose authorized identify was Ermias Ashgedom, had simply been nominated for a a Grammy for his major-label-debut album after years of underground acclaim when he was killed.
