Trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis Begins in Tupac Shakur Murder Case
The murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, accused of orchestrating the 1996 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, starts Monday in Las Vegas and is expected to last about a month.
A Nevada jury will hear the case of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, who has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors allege Davis organized the shooting as retaliation for a street confrontation that occurred earlier that night outside a Mike Tyson boxing match, and that he supplied the weapon used in the attack. Davis has entered a not-guilty plea and his defense team argues that the state relies on witnesses who were not present at the scene.
The incident took place on September 7, 1996, when Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight were leaving the MGM Grand Garden Arena. A white Cadillac stopped at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire was fired, striking Shakur multiple times; he died six days later. Knight survived with minor injuries.
Prosecutors plan to call 35 to 45 witnesses, including police, forensic experts and individuals who were near Shakur before the shooting. They have indicated that Suge Knight may be subpoenaed, although he has expressed a desire not to participate. The defense expects to present only a limited number of witnesses and has not confirmed whether Davis will testify.
"We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that," Davis wrote in his 2019 memoir, a passage that the prosecution says demonstrates motive.
The trial will be overseen by Judge Carli Kierny, a former public defender elected to the bench in 2020. Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo leads the prosecution, while attorney Michael Sanft, who is representing Davis on a pro-bono basis, heads the defense. The jury, composed of six men and ten women with four alternates, was seated on Thursday.
Key figures linked to the case include the late Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Davis’s nephew, who was identified by law enforcement as the likely gunman before his death in 2018, and Deandrae “Freaky” Smith, who prosecutors say fired the shots. Both men, along with driver Terry “Bubble Up” Brown, died in subsequent incidents.
The trial is expected to last roughly one month, after which a verdict will be delivered.