Jury to Hear Closing Arguments in Tupac Shakur Murder Trial
LAS VEGAS — Closing arguments began Monday in the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, the only person ever charged in connection with the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur. The case, which has captivated the music world for nearly three decades, now rests in the hands of a 16-member jury panel at the Clark County District Court Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, where the shooting occurred.
Davis faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. If convicted, he could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty and did not take the stand in his own defense.
The Prosecution’s Case
Prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal brought 25 witnesses to the stand over nine days of testimony, arguing that Davis orchestrated the drive-by shooting as retaliation after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, at the MGM Grand hours before the killing. According to AP News, Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger — prosecutors allege he was the “shot caller” who provided the gun.
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors in his opening statement. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.”
The prosecution’s case hinges largely on Davis’ own words — including his 2008 interview with an LAPD task force investigating the murder of Shakur’s rival, The Notorious B.I.G., his 2009 interview with Las Vegas police, and his 2019 tell-all memoir “Compton Street Legend.” In these statements, Davis described handing a gun to the backseat of a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur and Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight’s BMW near the Las Vegas Strip.
“We at the light on Las Vegas and Flamingo, and he, Suge, ah, Tupac hanging out the window, and all the girls was going crazy on the corner,” Davis said in his 2008 police interview, which was played for jurors. When asked what happened when they pulled up alongside, Davis replied: “Got to shooting.”
The Defense’s Response
Defense attorney Michael Sanft, who took the case without pay, called three witnesses and has argued that Davis’ statements were “nothing more than untrue braggadocio” made to make money. The Guardian reported that Sanft told jurors the prosecution’s narrative is “fiction” with “no facts” pointing to Davis.
“Ask yourself this: what facts do they have after 30 years? There are no facts to point to Keffe. Not one,” Sanft said in court.
Sanft has also pointed to the lack of physical evidence connecting Davis to the crime, the age of the case, and what he described as a “biased,” “sloppy,” and “incomplete” investigation. He noted that the other three men in the Cadillac — Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith, and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown — have all since died.
A Case Decades in the Making
Shakur was shot multiple times on September 7, 1996, while stopped at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, and died six days later at age 25. Knight, who was driving the BMW, was grazed by bullets but survived. The case went cold for decades until Davis’ public statements and memoir revived the investigation, leading to his indictment in 2023.
The Independent noted that the trial brings to a head a case that has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike. The killing occurred during the height of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry, with Shakur representing Death Row Records and its associated Mob Piru Bloods gang, while Davis was a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, connected to Bad Boy Records.
The trial has also repeatedly surfaced the still-unsolved murder of The Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles six months after Shakur’s death. CP24 reported that Davis’ 2008 confession to the LAPD task force investigating Wallace’s murder unexpectedly provided the breakthrough in the Shakur case.
What’s Next
Judge Carli Kierny read a dozen jury instructions before closing arguments began. The jury panel of 16 people — six men and 10 women — will have 12 members tasked with deciding Davis’ guilt or innocence, with four identified as alternate jurors after closing arguments.
Shakur’s family members have sat through the trial seeking closure after three decades. “I feel like the details, especially for people that are close to him, honestly for me helps, helps the grief process,” Shakur’s cousin Zayd Akinyela told reporters. “I think we’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly.”
As ABC7 News reported, the looming question for jurors is whether Davis falsely claimed credit for an infamous crime or whether his many confessions were the unvarnished truth. The jury is expected to begin deliberations after closing arguments conclude.