The Tupac Shakur murder trial is finally set to begin in Las Vegas, nearly three decades after the rap icon was gunned down in a drive-by shooting that stunned the music world. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is scheduled to stand trial Monday on a murder charge in the 1996 killing. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Davis was part of the plot, even though they do not accuse him of personally firing the shot. They allege he helped plan the attack and supplied the gun used in the shooting. Shakur was struck on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight near the Las Vegas Strip. He died six days later at age 25.
The case has long been tied to an argument that started 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 were later in a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur’s vehicle and opened fire. Davis is the only one of the four still alive.
Investigators long suspected Anderson was the gunman, but the evidence in the case has also pointed to the possibility that Smith fired the shots. No murder weapon was ever recovered. That uncertainty has left the prosecution with a case built around statements, associations and Davis’ own account of events rather than a recovered firearm or a direct eyewitness confession.
According to prosecutors, Davis has talked publicly about the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. They argue those statements help show his role in the attack and support their claim that he was at the center of the events that night. His attorneys have said his public comments were overstated and have challenged whether a 2008 police interview should be allowed in court.
