Testimony continued Tuesday for a second day in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the 63-year-old man accused of helping plan the 1996 Las Vegas drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur.
LAS VEGAS — Several members of Tupac Shakur’s family left the courtroom Tuesday before prosecutors displayed autopsy photographs during the trial of the man charged in the hip-hop icon’s killing.
Other relatives chose to stay, bracing themselves as the court confronted the painful details of the rapper’s final injuries.
The graphic images were introduced on the second day of testimony in the case against Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the fatal 1996 shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis has pleaded not guilty. During opening statements, his defense attorney dismissed the prosecution’s version of events as “fiction.”
Dr. Lisa Gavin, a forensic pathologist and medical examiner in Clark County, Nevada, walked jurors through Shakur’s wounds and testified about his cause of death. As photos of Shakur’s body were shown in court, some family members who stayed inside turned their eyes away.
Tupac’s family in the Las Vegas courtroom
Shakur’s cousin, Zayd Akinyela, said he made the decision to remain in the courtroom because he wanted to better understand what happened.
“I feel like the details, especially for people that are close to him, honestly for me helps, helps the grief process. I think we’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly,” Akinyela told The Associated Press outside the courtroom. “A lot of people don’t get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one and how it happened.” He added, “That’s why I wanted to stay and just see for my own personal closure.”
Akinyela said he had not previously known how many times Shakur had been shot, and that the testimony left him reflecting on how differently that night might have unfolded.
Seeing the photos of Shakur’s body made him feel “Very angry, very angry, to say the least, very sad,” Akinyela said.
What the forensic pathologist said about the gunshots
Gavin described three bullets. One of them caused his lung to collapse and bleed, and doctors ultimately removed the damaged lung in an effort to save his life, she said.
Additional bullets damaged his intestines and other parts of his body, she said.
Jurors looked intently at the photos of Shakur’s body, which was bloated and had multiple chest wounds. The nearly full courtroom was silent. Chest tubes were still in his body from the six days he spent in the hospital before dying. .
Gavin was not at Shakur’s 1996 autopsy but was called as a witness because the examiner who performed it has since died.
Surveillance video of a clash before the drive-by shooting
Prosecutors allege Shakur was killed to avenge Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson a few hours earlier at the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson fight.
Jurors were shown the casino surveillance video of a group of people beating and kicking someone on the ground.
The video then showed Shakur and his entourage moving quickly through the crowded building in the minutes after.
A few hours later, Shakur, riding in a black BMW with hip-hop mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, was gunned down by shots fired from a white Cadillac that had Davis, Anderson and two other men inside. Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger.
‘Hostile’ witness refuses to revisit the past
After many technical and procedural witnesses, James McDonald brought both hostility and humor to the stand when he testified unwillingly under a court order.
McDonald, like Knight, had been affiliated with the Mob Piru Bloods gang, and worked security for Knight at his Club 662, where Shakur and Knight had been headed when they were fired on. Davis was a member of the rival South Side Compton Crips.
Asked by Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal if he was aware of why Anderson was beaten, he wouldn’t say.
“I’m aware of a lot of things,” McDonald said, “things that was going on, people ain’t talked about them in 30 years. Today ain’t one of them.”
He said, “Me or anybody else bringing up the dead is wrong,” and “you’d better treat me as a hostile witness.”
McDonald said he wanted to avoid answering questions that will hurt Davis.
“Here I am explaining to people what I used to be. I’m not proud of that,” McDonald said. “I don’t want to send him to prison, even though we don’t like each other.”
He directly addressed the defendant. “What you’re going through, brother, is what you’re going through,” McDonald said, adding “I didn’t want to be a part of it.” Davis had no visible reaction.
But McDonald also brought several moments of levity.
Asked whether there were specific fights or disputes he could remember regarding the gang rivalry, McDonald said, “Are you serious?!” and laughter broke out in the courtroom.
Death Row security officer chronicles Bad Boy rivalry
Reggie Wright Jr., a former Compton police officer who owned a security company that was contracted by Knight’s Death Row Records, detailed the way tension had grown between the label and Sean “Diddy” Combs Bad Boy Records leading up to the Shakur shooting.
He said he had doubled Shakur’s security guards after he released the video for “Hit ‘Em Up,” one of the most vicious diss tracks in the history of hip-hop, aimed at Bad Boy’s Notorious B.I.G., who was killed six months later.
Wright said Shakur was to perform at Club 662 to fulfill required community service. He was on probation for California weapons and assault convictions.
After the shooting, Wright went to University Medical Center where Shakur was taken, and said a crowd was gathering there. He called his father, who worked in the Compton Police Department’s gang division, to tell him about the brawl and shooting, and warned him that trouble could be coming there.
Wright testified that he received Shakur’s ashes after he was cremated, and saw that they got to Shakur’s family.
Wright has long been among those rumored to be involved in Shakur’s killing.
Palal asked him whether he had anything to do with it.
“Absolutely not,” Wright replied.
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.
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.”
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