Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Enters Witness Testimony in Las Vegas
Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis has moved into witness testimony, reopening one of hip-hop’s most enduring unsolved cases before a jury.
Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in connection with Shakur’s 1996 killing. He has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon and denies prosecutors’ allegation that he organised the drive-by attack.
Opening statements were delivered on Monday, August 17, before prosecutors began calling witnesses. Testimony continued Tuesday in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas.
Prosecutors allege Davis helped organise the shooting as retaliation after Shakur and members of his entourage were involved in a fight with Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, inside the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson bout. The state says Davis obtained the weapon used in the attack and was inside the white Cadillac from which Shakur was shot. Those remain prosecution allegations and have not been proven at trial.
Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight when he was shot on September 7, 1996. The rapper was hit four times and died six days later at the age of 25.
A central part of the prosecution’s case is expected to involve Davis’s own past statements.
Over the years, Davis discussed the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. Prosecutors argue those statements support their contention that he participated in planning the attack.
The defence is taking the opposite position.
Davis’s attorneys argue that his previous public statements were exaggerated or fabricated and that prosecutors lack sufficient physical evidence directly tying him to Shakur’s murder.
