The Tupac Shakur murder trial is set to begin Monday in Las Vegas, bringing the long-running case back into court nearly 30 years after the rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in the killing and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors do not say he fired the shot, but they allege he helped plan the attack and supplied the gun used in the shooting. The case centers on the Sept. 7, 1996, attack near the Las Vegas Strip, when Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight. He died six days later at age 25.
According to prosecutors, the events leading to the shooting began hours earlier at the MGM Grand, where Shakur, Knight and others were involved in a fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips. Prosecutors say Davis, Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown later rode in a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur’s car and opened fire.
Investigators have long suspected Anderson was the gunman, though evidence in the case has also pointed to the possibility that Smith fired the shots. The Associated Press reported that prosecutors plan to argue Davis was the one who directed the attack and provided the weapon. Gunfire came from the Cadillac Davis was in, and he is among the few people from that night who is still alive.
Davis has acknowledged that he was in the Cadillac and has spoken publicly about the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” Prosecutors say those remarks help show what role he played. His lawyers have pushed back, saying some of his public comments were exaggerated and challenging whether statements he made during a 2008 police interview could be used at trial.
