Tupac Shakur murder trial set for opening arguments

Opening arguments were expected on Monday, August 17, in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors aim to show that he ordered the killing of Shakur and provided the gun used in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

A jury was selected last week. The proceedings could last more than a month and may not make clear who fired the shots that killed Shakur, one of the most influential US rappers, on the night of September 7, 1996.

Prosecutors say the killing followed a confrontation after a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand casino. They say Marion “Suge” Knight and Shakur beat Davis's nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, a member of the South Side Compton Crips, in retribution over an alleged assault of a Death Row Records employee.

Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and others pulled up beside Shakur's car in Las Vegas. Shots were fired from the Cadillac, and Shakur was fatally wounded.

The case was revived after Davis's memoir was published in 2019. In the book, he recounted that he was in the front seat of the Cadillac and handed a pistol to people in the back seat, but did not say who opened fire. Davis has since said the claims were bluster created by a ghostwriter to sell books.

Everyone else who was in the Cadillac that night is now dead.