Ex-gang leader found guilty of first-degree murder of Tupac Shakur

Las Vegas: Jurors have begun deliberating in the first-degree murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, charged over the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, after a prosecutor argued that Davis’ own words and a case “drenched in circumstantial evidence” prove he orchestrated the drive-by shooting.

Jurors received the case on Monday afternoon (Las Vegas time) after prosecutors and Davis’ defence presented their closing arguments.

Shakur was on his way to perform at a club in Las Vegas when a Cadillac pulled up beside him and music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later. Davis is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records, after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.

Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected his changing motivations and efforts to protect himself. One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal said.

Palal told jurors that if they believe Davis’ statements, they do not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.

Still, Palal pointed to the rivalry between the gangs the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and testimony that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the fatal shooting.

“Who fired is not the question,” Palal told the jury. Prosecutors haven’t argued that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.

“The shot caller doesn’t just ride along,” Palal said.

The prosecutor also argued the shooting was premeditated, pointing to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn. “It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Davis, 63, faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the killing of Shakur in Las Vegas nearly 30 years ago.

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.

The prosecution hammered home the argument that Davis called the shots for the attack on Shakur that night based on the accused man’s book and interviews. Davis’ defence attorney reiterated his claim that the prosecution’s narrative is fiction and that they failed to back up Davis’ claims with evidence.

The trial brings to a head a decades-long case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts. Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. Knight was also wounded but survived.

For years, nobody was charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat. Davis described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.

Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime. Davis is the only person still alive who was in the Cadillac.

Davis’ own words used in evidence

Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth”. Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, Palal argued that names, hotels and other details changed while the central account did not.

Palal also rejected the defence’s contention that Davis fabricated his accounts to make money. “It is an entirely different proposition to be profiting from a murder,” Palal said. “And that is what Mr Davis is doing.”

Defence attorney Michael Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument. While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.

In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger.

The prosecution’s witnesses included a gang expert who described Davis as the shot caller that younger gang members had to obey.

Witnesses also testified to the heated gang rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which were associated with duelling record companies Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records.

He was just bragging, defence argues

Sanft has told jurors that his client’s words were braggadocio and were meant to make Davis money, not to tell the truth.

Sanft, who took on the case without pay, argues there is a lack of physical evidence tying Davis to the crime, such as phone records or bills.

During the trial, investigators said a Las Vegas hotel bill was found at Davis’ residence during a police search, but it wasn’t clear when it was dated – or where that evidence is currently located.

The case is nearly 30 years old, which has affected the kind of evidence presented in court. Prosecutors warned jurors that material collected in the ’90s is different from what law enforcement collects today, including hotel surveillance video from the night of the shooting.