Tupac Shakur murder trial begins in Las Vegas

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot on a Las Vegas street, the man prosecutors say arranged the killing is going on trial in a case built largely on his own words.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has been jailed since late 2023. If convicted, the BBC reported, he faces life in prison without parole.

Jury selection began Monday in Las Vegas, with opening arguments scheduled for Aug. 17, according to the BBC. CBS News reported the trial is expected to last about a month and is unlikely to determine who fired the fatal shots. Instead, prosecutors aim to prove Davis directed the attack and supplied the gun.

Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, after attending a Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand with Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight. Hours earlier, surveillance footage captured Shakur and members of his entourage attacking Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Davis’ nephew and an alleged member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Later that night, Shakur was riding in the passenger seat of Knight’s black BMW near the Las Vegas Strip when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them at a red light and gunfire erupted. Shakur was hit multiple times — four times, according to the BBC — and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries. He is now serving a 28-year prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run.

Prosecutors allege the shooting was retaliation for the attack on Anderson and part of a broader conflict involving rival gangs and record labels: Death Row Records, associated with Mob Piru, a Bloods-linked gang, and Bad Boy Records, associated in witness accounts with the South Side Compton Crips. Bad Boy was founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs and included The Notorious B.I.G.; Death Row’s roster included Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.

The case went unsolved for decades. Las Vegas police have said witnesses refused to cooperate, while members of Shakur’s entourage said police initially treated them like suspects and failed to follow important leads. Anderson denied involvement and was never charged; he was killed in an unrelated shooting in 1998.

Authorities say the investigation was revived after Davis began speaking publicly. In a 2008 police interview tied to a federal task force investigating the deaths of Shakur and Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., Davis said he was in the Cadillac when Shakur was shot. The BBC reported he gave that information under an agreement that he not be charged, but prosecutors later argued he broke that agreement by going public.

In his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” Davis wrote that Shakur and his entourage “crossed the line” by beating Anderson. “We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” the book says. The memoir says Davis was in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and passed a gun to the back seat before the shooting. It says that when they encountered Shakur and Knight, Davis claimed he saw Shakur reach for a weapon and that “one of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.” Retired Las Vegas police Detective Clifford Mogg said no weapon was found in Shakur and Knight’s car, CBS News reported.

Davis’ defense attorneys argue the state lacks evidence that he ordered the shooting and relies on witnesses who were not there. They also sought unsuccessfully to block the memoir and 2008 interview from trial, arguing the book was fictionalized and co-authored. Davis recently told Fox 5, “I did not write that book. A ghost writer wrote that.” He added that he may testify: “If I have to, I will.”

Davis has also denied involvement in an interview with CBS affiliate KLAS-TV.

Shakur’s stepbrother, Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, said the trial will be painful for the family but that he is “cautiously optimistic” justice will come. “I hope that the trial is fair, and we find out the truth,” he said. He added that nothing could bring Shakur back: “That would be justice for me. But we all know that is unattainable.”