Nearly 30 Years After Tupac’s Murder, A Suspect Is Finally Going On Trial

The man accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur will finally stand trial nearly three decades after the hip-hop icon was gunned down in Las Vegas. 

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, a longtime member of the South Side Compton Crips, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon. He spent years publicly discussing his involvement in the events surrounding Shakur’s killing, including in interviews and his memoir, statements that eventually helped revive the cold case investigation that led to his arrest, CBS News reported.

Jury selection begins Monday, with the trial expected to last about a month.

Prosecutors do not claim that Davis fired the fatal shots. Instead, they contend that he orchestrated the attack and provided the gun used to kill Shakur.

Shakur was a massive hit in the rap world when he was gunned down on September 7, 1996, while waiting at a red light in the car driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight. The pair had just watched a Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas and were headed to a club where Shakur was expected to perform. 

Shakur died six days after the drive-by shooting. Knight sustained minor injuries.

Grand jury testimony placed the killing against the backdrop of several overlapping rivalries, including beef between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records and between two Los Angeles-area gangs, the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, a Bloods-affiliated gang. 

Bad Boy Records was founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs and included the Notorious B.I.G., while Death Row Records included big names such as Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. 

Davis’ defense has accused the prosecution of relying on sources who did not witness the crime. His attorneys also tried to block excerpts from his book, “Compton Street Legend,” along with an interview Davis gave to police, from being used at trial. They argue the book is “fictionalized” and written with a co-author, making it unreliable as an account of what actually happened. 

The book describes a confrontation hours before the shooting in which Shakur and others attacked Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. 

“We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” the book says, adding that Shakur had “crossed the line.” 

In the book, Davis recalls how a gun was passed to individuals in the backseat of the car. According to his account, Shakur appeared to reach for a gun before someone in the backseat opened fire. Davis wrote, “One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.”

Police found no weapons in the vehicle after the shooting, per the police detective assigned to the case. 

Anderson has been suspected of being the gunman but was never charged in Shakur’s killing. He was killed in 1998 in an unrelated gang shooting. The other two passengers who were in Davis’ car that night have also died.

Knight, who was seated beside Shakur at the time of the shooting, is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for voluntary manslaughter. He had previously said he would not testify in Davis’ case.

Combs could also become part of the trial after Davis previously claimed that Combs offered him money to kill Shakur. Combs has denied involvement in Shakur’s murder.

Combs is currently serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges.