The trial of Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, the man accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, began Monday in Las Vegas. Prosecutors allege Davis, 63, personally handed the firearm to the individuals who fatally shot Shakur, 25, in a drive-by attack.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that while Davis did not pull the trigger, he planned the retaliation and supplied the weapon. The alleged motive stemmed from a public confrontation hours earlier where Shakur and his entourage were captured on surveillance video beating Davis's nephew, Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson, at the MGM Grand hotel following a Mike Tyson fight.
Prosecutors stated that Davis, identified as a leader in the South Side Compton Crips, spent approximately two hours planning revenge after the incident. Shakur, closely associated with Death Row Records and its co-founder Marion 'Suge' Knight, was killed about two and a half hours later when a white Cadillac pulled alongside the black BMW he was riding in and gunfire erupted.
Shakur was struck multiple times and died six days later. Knight sustained graze wounds but survived. Prosecutors contend Davis was inside the Cadillac and passed the gun to passengers in the back seat before the fatal shots were fired.
Central to the prosecution's case are Davis's own statements. In a 2008 interview regarding the murder of Shakur's rival Christopher 'The Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace, Davis reportedly discussed the Tupac killing and described giving a gun to the men in the Cadillac's back seat. Prosecutors played audio of Davis discussing the shooting during the trial's opening day.
Palal described Davis as someone whose anger over the incident persisted for decades, and who repeatedly spoke about the killing when others remained silent. Davis has provided accounts of his involvement to law enforcement in interviews with the FBI in 1998 and 1999, and a 2009 interview with Las Vegas police. His 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend," also detailed his presence in the Cadillac and handing a pistol to those behind him.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. His defense attorney, Michael Sanft, called the prosecution's case 'fiction' and argued that investigators had long known Davis was unreliable. Sanft suggested Davis had not been charged sooner because law enforcement believed he was untrustworthy, and criticized the original investigation for alleged missing documents and departmental distrust.
Prosecutors anticipate calling between 35 and 45 witnesses during the trial, which is expected to last approximately one month. Davis is the only person charged in Shakur's killing; the three other men allegedly in the Cadillac have since died. The case notably lacks a recovered murder weapon and a living eyewitness who can directly identify Davis as being in the vehicle.