The murder trial tied to Tupac Shakur’s 1996 shooting death began Monday in Las Vegas, three decades after the rapper was gunned down in a drive-by attack. According to Rolling Stone, prosecutors told jurors the killing was the result of a revenge plan.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said Duane “Keffe D” Davis organized the shooting after a fight earlier that night between Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson boxing match. Prosecutors played portions of a 2008 interview in which Davis described events leading up to the shooting.
Palal told jurors that Davis supplied the gun used in the attack and helped set up the retaliation. He said the evidence would include Davis’ own statements in the interview, later public comments, and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft argued that investigators never proved Davis was in Las Vegas that night and never charged him after the alleged 2008 confession. Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one murder count and has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2023.
Prosecutors say the shooting wounded Suge Knight and left Shakur fatally injured. Shakur died six days later at age 25, and police never recovered the gun or the white Cadillac linked to the attack, according to Rolling Stone.
