Closing statements are expected Monday in one of hip-hop's most anticipated trials for the man accused of orchestrating the death of Tupac Shakur. Duane ”Keffe D” Davis, 63, is charged with a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the killing of Shakur in Las Vegas nearly 30 years ago. A panel of 16 jurors, including four alternates, heard 24 witnesses called by prosecutors and three witnesses from the defense over nine days.
The trial was expected to take longer, with prosecutors originally planning to call 35 to 45 witnesses. The prosecution was expected to hammer home their arguments that Davis called the shots for the attack on Shakur that night based on Davis' own statements, while Davis’ defense attorney will likely reiterate his claim that prosecution’s narrative is fiction, and that they failed to back up Davis’ claims with evidence. The trial brings to a head a decades-long case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.
Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. Shakur died six days later from his wounds. Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight was also wounded, but survived.
For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the backseat. Davis, a self-proclaimed leader of the South Side Compton Crips at the time, described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew in the MGM Grand hours before the shooting. Prosecutors don’t claim Davis was the one who pulled trigger, but rather that he orchestrated the killing.
Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime. Davis is the only person still alive who was in the Cadillac. The state has relied on Davis’ own statements he gave to police, documentarians and interviewers, in which he admitted to playing a role in the shooting.
Davis also co-authored a book called “Compton Street Legend,” which Davis described as the “real truth” in an interview played for jurors. In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, with some details vary slightly on different occasions. Sometimes Davis said Deandre “Freaky” Smith had the gun but didn’t want it, so Anderson took it and pulled the trigger.
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