Trial Opens for Man Charged in Tupac Shakur's 1996 Killing

LAS VEGAS — The man prosecutors say orchestrated the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur was scheduled to go on trial Monday, nearly 30 years after the drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has been jailed since late 2023 and has pleaded not guilty.

The trial is expected to last about a month and likely will not establish who fired the fatal shots. Instead, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and supplied the weapon. Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he is one of the only people present that night who is still alive. Prosecutors say that had Davis not written and spoken publicly about the killing, it is likely no one would have been charged.

On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight. The two had just watched Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon and were headed to a nightclub where Shakur was to perform. At a red light, a white Cadillac pulled alongside and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries and is now serving a 28-year sentence for a fatal hit-and-run.

The case went cold until Davis began publicly describing his role as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, including in a 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend." Prosecutors allege he arranged the shooting in retaliation after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis' nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, at the MGM Grand hours earlier. The book says Davis passed a gun to the back seat and that "one of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin' back." No weapon was found in Shakur and Knight's car, according to retired Las Vegas police Detective Clifford Mogg.

Defense attorneys say there is no evidence Davis directed the shooting and that the state relies on witnesses who were not there. They unsuccessfully sought to bar the book, arguing it was fictionalized and co-authored.

Shakur's stepbrother, Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, said sitting through the trial will be retraumatizing but that he is "cautiously optimistic." He added: "I hope that the trial is fair, and we find out the truth."