When Tupac Shakur was gunned down at 25 on Sept. 7, 1996, America was in a very different moment. Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were locked in the final stretch of a presidential campaign, the Atlanta Olympics had only recently wrapped, and the internet was still a novelty rather than a daily way of life.
The music industry was thriving, and compact discs ruled the marketplace. Shakur’s landmark double album “All Eyez on Me” had climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart earlier that year, cementing the peak of a short but seismic hip-hop career. In the years that followed, his legacy only expanded, with his death becoming one of the defining music tragedies of the 1990s, alongside the losses of Kurt Cobain and Shakur’s rival, the Notorious B.I.G.
Beginning Monday in Las Vegas, the events of that September night will return to the spotlight as 63-year-old Duane “Keffe D” Davis stands trial in connection with Shakur’s killing. For many who have followed the long-dormant Tupac murder case, the courtroom proceedings represent a development they once doubted would ever happen.
Prosecutors say Davis played a central role in arranging the shooting. He is charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon, with prosecutors alleging the act was intended to promote, advance or assist a criminal gang.
Davis has entered a not guilty plea. His lawyers maintain that prosecutors have not produced evidence proving he ordered the attack, and they contend the state’s case leans on witnesses who were not present when the shooting occurred.
The trial is expected to run for about a month. Here are the major points to know as the closely watched Tupac Shakur murder trial gets underway.
What happened the night Tupac Shakur was shot
Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were in Las Vegas that night for Mike Tyson’s bout against Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, a fight Tyson won by knockout. Outside the venue, Shakur, Knight and members of their entourage became involved in a fight with a group that included Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.
Authorities, authors and Davis himself say the shooting was an act of retaliation. Davis’ 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend,” said the men had “crossed the line” when they beat up Anderson.
“We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” says the book, which along with Davis interviews revived the cold case and led to Davis being charged. The co-authored memoir will be essential to the trial. Davis’ defense fought unsuccessfully to get it excluded.
Later in the night, Shakur and Knight were heading to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform. At a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries.
Prosecutors say Davis called for shooting that was fueled by long gang feud
The long, lingering question of who shot Tupac may stay unanswered. But prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and provided the weapon.
He was one of four men in the Cadillac, authorities said. The other three have all died in the years since. Authorities say neither the car nor the gun used in the shooting were recovered.
Grand jury testimony portrayed the shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels — Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records — and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.
The key players at trial
The jury will consist of six men and 10 women who were seated Thursday. Four are alternates.
Attorney Michael Sanft will lead Davis’ defense. He has said he took the case on a pro-bono basis. His previous high-profile clients include Michele Fiore, a Nevada politician convicted of wire fraud but pardoned by President Donald Trump before she was sentenced, and Andrew Cote, a former Las Vegas pastor found guilty of shooting and killing his 71-year-old neighbor and her 54-year-old boyfriend.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo will head the prosecution. He previously faced off with Sanft as the prosecutor in the Cote case.
Judge Carli Kierny was a public defender for 10 years in Clark County, Nevada, where she was elected as a judge in 2020. She is on the ballot again later this year.
Dozens of prosecution witnesses could include ‘Suge’ Knight
Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 people to the stand. Along with police and technical witnesses, they are expected to include people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot and those who were associates of both Shakur and Davis at the time.
Knight, the West Coast hip-hop mogul who was once one of the most important and most feared men in music, is the only surviving eyewitness other than the defendant. He is on the witness list and may be summoned. He has said he wants no part in the trial. He is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for running over and killing a Compton businessman in 2015.
Davis wrote in his book that moments before the shooting, he and Knight “looked each other dead in the eye” like “two rams locking horns.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs, Knight’s East Coast counterpart and fierce foe, will not be testifying.
The defense intends to call only a handful of witnesses. They have not said whether Davis will testify.
The three men who didn’t live to take part in the trial
Law enforcement authorities long suspected that the gunman was Anderson, Davis’ 12-years-younger nephew who was 22 at the time. He was sitting in the backseat of the Cadillac, behind his uncle. Anderson, who denied involvement in Shakur’s killing, died two years later in what police said was an unrelated shooting at a Compton car wash.
Deandrae “Freaky” Smith was in the backseat sitting next to Anderson. Denvonta Lee, a former associate of Smith who talked to him about the shooting soon after it happened, told a grand jury it was Smith who fired the shots but let Anderson take credit for Shakur’s death. Smith died in 2004 at age 30 from what authorities said were natural causes.
Terry “Bubble Up” Brown was the driver of the Cadillac. He died in a 2015 shooting at a medical marijuana dispensary in Compton.
