Duane Davis faces trial over Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing
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Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former gang leader, is due to stand trial in Las Vegas nearly 30 years after the unsolved 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, having been charged with murder in 2023 following decades without an arrest. Jury selection began this week and opening arguments are due to start on 17 August; the case is expected to expose the bitter East Coast–West Coast rap rivalry and Bloods–Crips gang tensions that framed Shakur's death and his rise from rapper to cultural icon.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon to promote a criminal gang, and faces life without parole if convicted. Prosecutors' case reportedly rests heavily on a book Davis co-authored, which he claims was partly fictional, while potential witnesses could include Suge Knight, former Death Row Records CEO. Shakur was shot on 7 September 1996 in Las Vegas hours after he and his entourage were filmed attacking Orlando Anderson, an alleged rival gang member, following a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand.
- Jury selection began this week; opening arguments start 17 August.
- Davis, 63, pleaded not guilty; faces life without parole if convicted.
- Case reportedly hinges on a book Davis co-authored, called partly fictional.
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Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a 63-year-old former gang leader, is going on trial in Las Vegas over the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most influential figures in hip-hop. Shakur was shot while riding in a car after a boxing match at the MGM Grand, and no one was charged over his death for nearly 30 years until Davis was arrested in 2023. He denies the charge of murder with a deadly weapon to promote a criminal gang.
The case sits against the backdrop of a real rivalry between rap scenes on the US East and West coasts in the 1990s, which overlapped with tensions between the Bloods and Crips street gangs. Shakur and his associates were filmed attacking a man linked to a rival gang shortly before the shooting, and that confrontation is expected to feature heavily in the trial.
Davis has long been known to investigators, partly because he wrote about his own alleged role in the killing in a memoir, which he has since said contained fictionalised elements. Prosecutors are expected to lean on that book as evidence, while Suge Knight, the former head of Death Row Records who was driving Shakur at the time of the shooting, could be called as a witness. Davis faces life without parole if he is convicted.
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Originally published by BBC Entertainment as “30 years later, a former rival will stand trial for Tupac’s murder”.