Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Begins After 30 Years

LAS VEGAS — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only person ever charged in the 1996 killing of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur, bringing renewed attention to one of the most notorious unsolved murders in music history.

Davis, 63, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur’s death. He has pleaded not guilty and could face life in prison without parole if convicted. Approximately 75 potential jurors were called to Clark County District Court on Monday to be questioned about their ability to be fair and impartial in the high-profile case, with Judge Carli Kierny presiding.

“Whoever had anything to do with it, whoever set it up, whoever had any hand in it should be locked up in prison,” Shakur’s cousin Kendrick Lesane said outside the courthouse, according to AP News.

The 1996 Shooting

Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while riding in a black BMW driven by music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight near the Las Vegas Strip. The two had just attended the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand and were heading to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform. At a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them and gunfire erupted. Shakur, in the passenger seat, was shot multiple times and died six days later at age 25. Knight was grazed by a bullet or shrapnel but survived.

Hours before the shooting, Shakur and his entourage had beaten up Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson — Davis’s nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips — in the MGM Grand lobby, an act caught on security camera. Prosecutors allege the shooting was retaliation for that beating.

The case went cold for decades until Davis began making public statements about his involvement, including a 2019 tell-all memoir titled “Compton Street Legend” and numerous media interviews. He was arrested in September 2023 outside his home in Henderson, Nevada.

The Case Against Davis

Prosecutors are not accusing Davis of pulling the trigger. Instead, they plan to show that Davis made the calls that led to Shakur’s death and provided the gun used in the shooting. The trial, scheduled to last about a month, is unlikely to confirm who fired the fatal shots.

Davis is the only person still alive out of the four people in the Cadillac that night. Anderson died in an unrelated gang shootout in Compton in 1998. Deandrae “Freaky” Smith, who was in the back seat, died of natural causes in 2004. Terry “Bubble Up” Brown, who was driving, died in a 2015 shooting at a medical marijuana dispensary.

According to The Guardian, the prosecution’s case relies heavily on Davis’s own words. In his memoir, Davis wrote that he obtained a handgun from an associate and tossed it into the back seat of the Cadillac. He described seeing Shakur reach for a weapon and wrote that “one of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.” No weapon was found in Knight and Shakur’s car, according to retired Las Vegas police Detective Clifford Mogg.

Davis has since backtracked, saying there is no evidence against him and that his co-author merely inflated a tale. His defense attorney Michael Sanft has called the case “weak” and argued that Davis was “exercising his First Amendment right to free speech” with his book.

Key Evidence and Witnesses

Judge Kierny previously ruled that both the memoir and a recording of Davis’s 2008 police interview can be used at trial. In the 2008 interview, given to a federal task force investigating the deaths of Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., Davis described his role in the shooting. The interview was originally supposed to be confidential under a proffer agreement, but prosecutors argued it became admissible when Davis chose to write his book and speak publicly.

“I sang because they promised I would not be prosecuted,” Davis wrote in his memoir, as AP News reported. “It kills me on the inside to know that I told them anything.”

Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 witnesses, ranging from people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot to gang experts and former police officers. The witness list includes Leonard Jefferson, who pulled up next to the BMW and snapped the last known photo of Shakur; Denvonta Lee, a former South Side Crips affiliate who testified to the grand jury that Smith took the gun from Anderson and did the shooting; and former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

One of the most anticipated potential witnesses is Knight himself. As the only other living eyewitness who was in one of the two vehicles that night, Knight’s testimony could make or break the case. However, Knight — who is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for a fatal hit-and-run — has previously said he would not testify. His name is on the witness list, and Davis’s defense attorney has said Knight would be a good witness for the defense if he did testify.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, who Davis alleged in his book wanted Knight and Shakur dead and offered Davis money to kill them, is not on any witness list. Combs has long denied any involvement and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence in New Jersey on prostitution-related charges.

A Cultural Moment

The trial comes nearly 30 years after Shakur’s death, and his cultural impact remains immense. Shakur sold over 75 million records worldwide with hits like “California Love,” “Changes,” and “Dear Mama.” He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.

“I can’t think of anyone else in the history of hip-hop who’s had a greater impact in such a short period of time,” Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, a history professor at the University of Connecticut, told AP News.

For Shakur’s family, the trial represents both a chance for answers and a painful reminder of their loss. “Hopefully we’ll find out some new information. And more importantly, the right person is charged and convicted for Tupac’s murder,” William Lesane, who identified himself as Shakur’s cousin, told reporters outside the courtroom, as The Guardian reported.

Shakur’s stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit in April, said he hopes the trial is fair. “That would be justice for me,” he said. “But we all know that is unattainable.”

What to Watch For

Jury selection is expected to take several days to a week, with the full trial stretching into early September. Public seating in the courtroom is limited and distributed through a daily lottery, with an overflow room showing a live video feed.

Davis’s defense is expected to call fewer than a handful of witnesses, including an expert in false confessions and coercive interrogation techniques. The defense has argued that Davis’s public statements were exaggerated and that the prosecution’s case relies on witnesses who weren’t actually present at the shooting.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo summed up the prosecution’s position succinctly, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported: “Had Mr. Davis never opened his mouth, had he never decided to take money and go on BET and talk about this situation, had he decided to never write the book, he would not, probably, have ever been prosecuted for the crime. But once he decides to write that book in 2019 and describe this situation, we are entitled to prove up what he’s saying is true.”

Whether the trial finally answers the questions that have haunted hip-hop for three decades — or leaves them unresolved — the proceedings in Las Vegas mark a historic moment in one of music’s most enduring mysteries.