Opening statements began Monday in the murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting death of hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a single count of murder using a deadly weapon in Clark County, Nevada.
The case stems from a September 7, 1996, incident near the Las Vegas Strip that followed a boxing match at the MGM Grand casino. Authorities allege the shooting was a retaliatory plot following a physical altercation between Shakur’s entourage and Davis’ nephew. Shakur was 25 years old when he was shot four times; he died six days later at a hospital.
Prosecutors describe Davis as the "shot caller" who obtained the murder weapon and provided it to individuals in the back seat of a Cadillac. Police stated that Davis, the self-described leader of the South Side Compton Crips, became the focus of the investigation again after he began making public statements and published a 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend," detailing his presence in the vehicle during the shooting.
The trial, presided over by Judge Carli Kierny, is expected to last approximately six weeks. A jury was selected last week. Potential witnesses may include Marion "Suge" Knight, the former Death Row Records executive who was driving the vehicle when Shakur was shot and who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for a separate voluntary manslaughter conviction.
The scale of the case involves the first murder charge brought in a 30-year-old cold case that police say was reinvigorated by the defendant's own public admissions starting in 2018. Under Nevada law, a person can be held liable for murder even if they did not personally pull the trigger, provided they participated in the commission of the crime. This legal standard means the prosecution does not need to prove Davis fired the weapon, only that he directed or assisted in the shooting that killed Shakur and injured Knight.
The outcome of this trial may also have knock-on effects for other high-profile unsolved crimes of that era, including the 1997 killing of Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. Davis noted in his memoir that he was long considered a suspect in both killings, and investigators have historically explored whether the Wallace shooting was a retaliation for Shakur's death. The trial is scheduled to continue through late September 2026.