Closing arguments are set for Monday in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the man prosecutors say helped arrange the killing of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.
The arguments follow nine days of testimony from investigators, former gang figures and documentary filmmakers, with the courtroom repeatedly returning to the September 1996 night when Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas while heading to a club performance.
Davis remains the only person ever criminally charged in Shakur’s death. Prosecutors have pointed to Davis’ past statements that he was inside the Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur before shots were fired, arguing he was the architect of the attack. His defense attorney counters that the case lacks physical evidence tying Davis to the fatal shooting.
Here’s the latest from the Tupac Shakur murder trial:
Family and friends endured days of emotional testimony
Throughout the proceedings, Shakur’s siblings, “Mopreme” Shakur and Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, joined other relatives in the courtroom’s front row as jurors heard evidence from both sides.
On most days, the family sat in silence, watching witnesses testify or looking toward courtroom screens as prosecutors played recordings of Davis’ earlier remarks. They stepped out before jurors were shown Shakur’s autopsy photographs, graphic images documenting the rapper’s injuries.
Mopreme Shakur previously told The Associated Press that the trial would reopen painful wounds for the family, but said they were determined to be present in the hope that Tupac would finally receive justice.
Tupac’s legacy and memory
Shakur remains a cultural icon. He is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time and had a burgeoning film career as an actor. He died as his popularity was peaking at age 25, and his legend has only grown in the years since.
Zayd Akinyela, Shakur’s cousin, said, “I’m very spiritual, so just seeing the body doesn’t affect me the same way as it might some people. I do believe that his spirit is still around and still lives on through his family and through his legacy.”
Most eyewitnesses are no longer alive
The story of the drive-by shooting has long gripped the hip-hop community, partly because no one was charged until Davis was indicted in 2023.
The other three men riding in the Cadillac have all died in the years since.
Retired Las Vegas police officer Garry Dale was the first of the witnesses the prosecution called.
He testified that he and another officer stopped Knight and Shakur’s car for missing a license plate, warned them and let them go.
About 10 minutes later, the officers responded to a shooting call and found EMTs pulling Shakur from the car. Dale said Knight had been grazed by bullets, but told the officers to take care of Shakur.
Dale jumped in the ambulance and asked Shakur who shot him. The retired officer said that Shakur said something like “no, we’ll take care of it.”
Who was there the night Tupac was killed
On the night of Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW that Knight was driving when a white Cadillac pulled up on their right side and gunfire erupted. Knight was wounded but survived. Shakur died a week later at the age of 25.
That night, three others were with Davis in the Cadillac, but none of them faced charges in Shakur’s killing before they died.
Here’s what we know about who was in both vehicles from authorities, court records, grand jury testimony, interviews and Davis’ 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
Tupac Shakur: Shakur is considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. He had five No. 1 albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Marion “Suge” Knight: Knight founded Death Row Records, a Los Angeles-based music label that represented Shakur at the time of his death.
Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson: Law enforcement authorities long suspected that Anderson was the gunman. He was 22 at the time. Though Davis was his uncle and 12 years older, he described their relationship as that of brothers, friends and even father-son.
Deandrae “Freaky” Smith: Also known as “Big Dre,” Smith was in the back seat of the car that night, sitting next to Anderson. Although authorities have said they believe Anderson pulled the trigger, the grand jury testimony challenged that theory.
Terry “Bubble Up” Brown: Brown was driving the Cadillac from which the shots were fired.
A dispute about fact vs. fiction at the trial over Tupac’s 1996 killing
A prosecutor said during the trial that while few have been willing to speak about the 1996 killing of Shakur, Davis is the “one person who has a hard time being silent.”
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors at the start of Davis’ Las Vegas trial.
“Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.”
Davis, 63, could get life in prison if he’s convicted of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer in the defense opening called the prosecution’s narrative “fiction.”
Documentaries and Davis’ own memoir are among prosecutors’ key evidence
Davis co-authored “Compton Street Legend,” a book about the shooting and Davis’ time in the Crips gang.
His attorneys unsuccessfully fought to block the use of the book in the trial. They argued it was fictionalized, and that because it had a co-author, it’s impossible to know which portions Davis wrote.
The memoir says Shakur and his entourage “crossed the line” when they beat up Davis’ nephew at a Las Vegas casino. Prosecutors have alleged Davis’ anger over the beating is part of what motivated the shooting, though they have decided to focus more on Davis’ documentary and police interviews rather than his book.
How Davis’ legal team is defending him
Davis, wearing a blue suit and tie, sat quietly with his hands folded on the table in front of him, occasionally nodding along as his attorney gave his opening, and often scanned the room during testimony to see who was in the gallery.
“What they are telling you, they are representing as fact, when it’s really fiction,” Michael Sanft said. “There’s no facts.”
He said Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap.”
The defense attorney also pointed to missing documents in the original investigation and distrust between police departments.
He called one detective’s work “biased,” “sloppy” and “incomplete.”
Sanft said outside court that he thought the 30 years that had elapsed would help Davis.
“The length of time is going to be a huge problem for people trying to recall things, to remember things,” the lawyer said. “That’s just not how it works.”
Asked about the oddity of calling his client “full of crap” and similar things, he said, “We all have a family member who’s like that.”
What Davis told the FBI and investigators
In a 2008 interview with a federal task force investigating the killing of Shakur’s rival, the Notorious B.I.G., Davis instead talked about the Shakur shooting. He described handing a gun to the men in the backseat of a white Cadillac that fired on a black BMW with Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight inside.
As prosecutors played audio of Davis explaining the moment Shakur was shot, members of Shakur’s family, including his stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, stared ahead and listened intently from the audience.
Palal told jurors Davis held onto a visceral hatred for Shakur for decades that drove him to speak.
He said the defendant talked to the FBI in 1998 and again in 1999, admitting he had been in Las Vegas at the time of the shooting.
In 2009, he admitted to his role in the killing in an interview with Las Vegas police, Palal said.
“And now 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable,” Palal said.
He also showed jurors the 2019 memoir that Davis co-authored, “Compton Street Legend,” that the prosecution will use and that the defense fought to keep out of the trial, along with several of the defendant’s interviews.
Attorneys on both sides will make their final pitches to the jury
Prosecutors say Davis called the shots for the attack on Shakur nearly three decades ago.
Davis’ defense attorney says the prosecution’s narrative is fiction, and that there isn’t enough evidence to justify a conviction.
The prosecution will likely rely on Davis’ own prior statements in police interviews and documentaries to drive home their closing arguments. In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat of the car just before the fatal shots were fired.
But Davis’ defense attorney has told jurors that Davis’ statements were nothing more than untrue braggadocio and that he made the claims to make money.
Former Southern California gang leader faces life in prison if convicted
On trial is Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a self-proclaimed former leader of the South Side Compton Crips. Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger that killed Shakur, but rather of orchestrating the shooting and providing the gun.
If the jury finds him guilty of murder, he could receive life in prison. The jury will not make recommendations on the sentencing, which will be determined by the judge at a later date.
Davis’ attorneys said the 63-year-old left the narcotics trade in 2009 and worked a steady job before illness forced him to retire in 2014.
