Las Vegas murder trial opens for Duane 'Keffe D' Davis in Tupac Shakur case
The trial of Duane Davis, accused of planning the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, has commenced in Clark County, Nevada, with opening statements highlighting a dispute over the admissibility of a disputed memoir and audio recordings.
The murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis has commenced in Las Vegas, Nevada, concerning the 1996 drive-by shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors allege that Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, orchestrated the killing as revenge for the beating of his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson. Davis is charged with one count of murder using a deadly weapon and faces life imprisonment without parole if convicted.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal presented evidence including videos of Shakur’s entourage attacking Anderson and audio recordings of Davis explaining the shooting. Prosecutors rely on Davis’s own statements from previous law enforcement interviews and his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend," in which he claims to have been a passenger in the white Cadillac and to have handed the gun to the shooters.
A judge has ruled that Davis’s 2019 memoir can be admitted as evidence, despite objections from the defence. Davis has distanced himself from the memoir, stating that parts were fictionalised to increase sales. Defence attorney Michael Sanft argued that Davis’s accounts in interviews and his memoir cannot be corroborated and questioned the factual basis of the prosecution's case.
Sanft described the police investigation as biased, sloppy, and incomplete, noting that after three decades, no definitive version of events has been established. He challenged the jury to find factual support for any of Davis’s statements in interviews or the book, dismissing the prosecution's narrative as fiction.
Under Nevada law, an individual can be charged with murder if they participated in the crime without firing the weapon themselves. Davis, seen at the trial wearing a blue suit and tie, was charged based on allegations that he planned the shooting in retaliation for his nephew’s assault. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
Shakur, also known as 2Pac, was 25 years old when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting on 7 September 1996 and died six days later from his injuries. The case was long regarded as one of the nation's most prominent cold cases, with Shakur remaining a central figure in the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry.
