The trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former gang leader, opened Monday in connection with the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis, 63, is accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur in Las Vegas after a boxing match involving Mike Tyson. Prosecutors allege Davis, once leader of the South Side Compton Crips, provided the weapon used in the attack and ordered the hit in retaliation for an earlier assault on his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, by members of Death Row Records. The incident occurred hours after Shakur and Death Row founder Marion "Suge" Knight beat Anderson at the MGM Grand casino.
According to prosecutors, Davis was in the front seat of a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur's car and handed a gun to others inside. Davis later admitted in his 2019 memoir that he was present and supplied the firearm, though he did not say who fired it. The case remained unsolved for years until those memoirs reignited the investigation, leading to Davis's arrest in September 2023. He has pleaded not guilty and claims he was in Los Angeles on the night of the murder, saying his memoir was exaggerated by the co-author for sales. He also denies having read the final version.
Jury selection began Monday, with the trial expected to last about a month. Davis faces life in prison without parole if convicted. The case revisits the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry of the 1990s, particularly the tensions between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records. Shakur, 25 at the time of his death, was a defining figure in West Coast rap, known for hits like "California Love" and "All Eyez on Me." His stepbrother Maurice Shakur filed a wrongful death lawsuit in May, separate from the criminal trial.
Davis claims he was not in Las Vegas the night of the shooting, yet previously admitted under oath to being in the car from which the fatal shots were fired. His shifting account undermines his credibility just as the trial turns on his own past statements. The outcome may hinge less on new evidence than on whether the jury believes his current denial over his earlier confessions.
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