Forensic pathologist Dr. Lisa Gavin detailed the fatal gunshot wounds sustained by Tupac Shakur in 1996 during testimony Tuesday at the Las Vegas trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis. Davis is charged with orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed the influential rapper.
Some members of Shakur's family reportedly left the courtroom before prosecutors presented autopsy photos of the rapper, and relatives who remained turned away as graphic images were shown. The images were not included in the trial's video feed.
Gavin, a forensic pathologist and medical examiner for Clark County, Nevada, was called as an expert witness because the original medical examiner had since died. She explained that one bullet entered Shakur’s chest near his armpit and traveled through his lung, causing it to collapse and bleed. Doctors ultimately removed the damaged lung in an effort to save his life. Additional bullets caused damage to his intestines and other parts of his body.
Shakur died from his injuries six days after the shooting. He was 25 years old.
During opening statements Monday, Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis, 63, orchestrated the shooting as retaliation for the beating of his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, by Shakur's entourage hours earlier outside a boxing match. Palal stated that Davis did not pull the trigger but planned the event, and that evidence would show Davis implicating himself.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon. His defense attorney, Michael Sanft, called the prosecution's narrative "fiction" and argued that law enforcement had not previously charged Davis despite his self-incriminating statements because they believed he was not truthful.
Prosecutors presented video footage of Anderson being attacked by Shakur's entourage. Palal told the jury that Davis spent the next two hours planning his revenge, leading to Shakur being gunned down. The prosecutor also said Davis harbored a long-standing hatred for Shakur, which led him to speak repeatedly about the incident.
Evidence presented included statements Davis made in a 2008 interview with federal investigators, where he described handing a gun to individuals in a white Cadillac that then fired on Shakur's black BMW. Davis also reportedly admitted his role in the killing to Las Vegas police in a 2009 interview and in his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend."
A retired Las Vegas police officer testified Monday that Shakur, when asked who shot him as he was being loaded into an ambulance, responded something to the effect of, "No, we'll take care of it."
Investigators initially pieced together the identities of Davis, Anderson, and two other men believed to have been in the car through informants, but witnesses were unwilling to provide official identification, according to a former Las Vegas homicide detective. A former LAPD detective testified that Davis had been briefly considered a suspect in the 1997 shooting death of Shakur's rival, the Notorious B.I.G., but was later discounted.
Sanft suggested outside court that the 30 years that have passed since the shooting could be a significant challenge for the prosecution's case, citing the difficulties people face in recalling events over such long periods.