O.J. lawman scared away
Darden drops Hussle susp after threats
Nipsey Hussle’s accused killer won’t be represented by former O.J. Simpson murder trial prosecutor Christopher Darden after all.
Darden appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday, walked back into the inmate holding area for what appeared to be a lengthy visit with alleged shooter Eric Holder and then filed a motion to withdraw as Holder’s lawyer.
Hussle’s friend and bodyguard J-Roc watched from the gallery and shook his head when he heard Darden was off the case.
“I don’t know what his point was taking the case from the get go,” J-Roc said as he left the courthouse after a judge assigned Holder a public defender and set a followup hearing for June.
“I heard he’d been getting threats and all, so maybe that’s why he withdrew,” he said of Darden. “God bless him, and much more success.”
Darden addressed his decision in a lengthy Facebook post, highlighting the death threats.
“As for my reasons for withdrawing I don’t know whether I will disclose them later or not. I only know that as a lawyer it is my duty to protect the rights of my clients even in the face of threats or angry mobs,” he wrote.
“After centuries of a history of black men hung from trees without trial, or after the thousands of cases of black men tried, convicted and executed without counsel … I cannot understand why in 2019 some people would deny a black man his 6th Amendment right to counsel of his choice,” Darden said.
“Or why defending such a man should invite threats not only against me but against my children too,” he wrote.
“Just as they were in 1995 — Cowards never change. These days these cowards don’t send letters instead they sit anonymously behind keyboards threatening a man’s mother and children. And some folks think that’s funny. It isn’t and I won’t ever forget it,” he wrote.
While he’s best known for prosecuting Simpson in the so-called “trial of the century” back in 1995, Darden now works in private practice and has represented other defendants in gang-related cases.
Simpson, meanwhile, was famously acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Holder, 29, is accused of shooting Hussle in the head and torso outside the Grammy nominee’s Los Angeles store, The Marathon Clothing, on March 31.
Two other men also were wounded in the attack.
Holder entered not guilty pleas last month to one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at a prior press conference that a “personal matter” and a “dispute” preceded the deadly shooting.
He said Holder engaged in multiple conversations with Hussle the day of the rampage before returning to the store and opening fire in an assassination recorded by nearby surveillance cameras.
Holder was arrested two days later after someone recognized him in a nondescript area of Bellflower, about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, and called police.
“Never in a million years I thought I would be writing some sh— like this … we haven’t made a 100 Million yet … we was suppose to grow old and I call u big nose, shoot jokes on you all day… but instead I’m here in tears writing this,” J-Roc said in an emotional Instagram post after Hussle’s death.
“I wish I was there I would switch places with you any day the world need you here I’m so confused , lost , hurt I lost a brother , best friend, a mentor,” he wrote.
Speaking to The News on Friday, J-Roc said it was difficult to look at Holder in the courtroom.
“It’s definitely hard,” he said after watching Holder walk in wearing a yellow prison uniform and shackles. “There’s nothing more to really say.”
In a related development Friday, Hussle’s brother Samiel Asghedom filed a petition to be the executor of his brother’s estate.
He said the rapper, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, died without a will and a personal fortune worth more than $2 million.
The filing listed personal property worth $915,000 and annual gross income of $1,120,000.