Man Accused of Orchestrating Tupac Shakur's Killing Goes to Trial
Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur's death, the man prosecutors say orchestrated the rapper's killing is finally standing trial in Las Vegas.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, went to trial Monday on a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in connection with the 1996 fatal drive-by shooting. Davis has been jailed since late 2023 and has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last about a month and, according to reporting from the Associated Press, likely won't reveal who actually pulled the trigger.
A Case Built on Davis' Own Words
Prosecutors' case relies heavily on "Compton Street Legend," a memoir Davis co-authored detailing the shooting and his time in the Crips, along with police and media interviews he participated in over the years. Davis' attorneys unsuccessfully fought to keep both the book and a recording of a 2008 police interview out of the trial. They argued the memoir was fictionalized and co-written, making it impossible to determine which parts Davis actually wrote himself.
They also argued that his interview with a federal task force investigating the deaths of both Shakur and Christopher Wallace, known professionally as The Notorious B.I.G., was meant to remain confidential and shouldn't be used against him. According to the memoir, Shakur and his entourage "crossed the line" in the events leading up to the shooting.
The Feud Behind the Killing
Hundreds of pages of grand jury transcripts portray Shakur's shooting as the culmination of a long-running feud between rival record labels, Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, and rival gang factions, the South Side Compton Crips and the Mob Piru Bloods. Witnesses have said the South Side Compton Crips associated with and provided protection to Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean "Diddy" Combs and home to artists including Wallace. Death Row Records, founded by Suge Knight, had ties to the Mob Piru Bloods.
Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while in Las Vegas to attend a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand alongside Knight. Their group that night included fellow Death Row artists and members of their security detail, drawn from the Mob Piru Bloods.
A Painful Wait for Shakur's Family
For Shakur's family, the decades-long wait for a trial have taken a toll. His stepbrother, Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, said sitting through the proceedings will be retraumatizing but expressed hope that the trial will bring some resolution. "I hope that the trial is fair, and we find out the truth," he said, adding that he remains "cautiously optimistic" justice will come.
Investigators had struggled for years to bring charges in the case. Just a year after the shooting, the police sergeant who headed the original investigation told the Las Vegas Sun that the case had so little evidence and so few cooperative witnesses that it "may never be solved." Davis, now considered the last living suspect connected to the killing, was ultimately arrested in September 2023.
As proceedings continue, Davis remains presumed innocent unless and until he's proven guilty in court.
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