2Pac Murder Trial

[The Predator]

Starts Monday...

Tupac Shakur: former gang boss to go on trial nearly 30 years after rapper's killing

Prosecutors to allege Duane ‘Keffe D' Davis ordered killing and provided gun in Las Vegas drive-by shooting of rapper



Agence France-Presse in Los Angeles

The trial is to begin of a former gang leader over the decades-old killing of the rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most high-profile unsolved murders in the US.

The proceedings, which begin in Las Vegas on Monday and are expected to last a month, are unlikely to make clear who fired the shots that killed the musician on 7 September 1996 while he was in the city to see a Mike Tyson boxing match.

Prosecutors aim to show that Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, ordered the killing and provided the gun used to kill Shakur in a drive-by shooting. Davis, 63, faces life in prison without parole if convicted.



The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has prompted endless debate among music fans over who did it and why. The rapper, who died at the age of 25, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the east coast against the west coast.

Known for hits such as California Love and All Eyez on Me, Shakur - the son of a Black Panther - was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of a California bad boy when he signed with the Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.

The trial will revisit the battle between Death Row, founded by Marion "Suge" Knight, and Bad Boy Records, the east coast label created by Sean "Diddy" Combs and featuring Christopher "the Notorious BIG" Wallace, who was murdered in March 1997.



Prosecutors say Death Row Records was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang that was part of the wider Bloods alliance. Knight was affiliated with the group. Bad Boy Records had hired the rival group South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards.

After the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand casino, Knight and Shakur attacked Davis's nephew, the Crips member Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, in retribution for an alleged assault on a Death Row employee. Davis was out for revenge, the prosecution says.

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 investigation sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the cold case was revived with the publication in 2019 of Davis's memoirs. In that book, Davis recounted that he was in the front seat of the Cadillac and that he handed a pistol to those in the back seat. But he does not say who opened fire on Shakur. Everyone else in the Cadillac that night has since died.

These compromising revelations were consistent with remarks Davis had made previously to reporters. But this time, they led to his arrest, in September 2023.

Davis has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty. "I'm innocent. I ain't killed nobody. Never did ever kill nobody," Davis said in an interview from prison with ABC News in March last year. "They don't have no evidence against me. They can't even put me in Las Vegas."

He has also said he never read his memoirs, and that the claims were inflated by his co-author to generate book sales. "I just gave him details of my life," Davis said. "And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own."

In the run-up to the trial, Davis's lawyers tried in vain to keep the book from being introduced as evidence, along with remarks he made in an interview with police in 2008 as a witness to the killing.

The proceedings will open with jury selection, which is expected to take a week. Whatever the verdict, it is unlikely to satisfy those close to Shakur. In May, the rapper's stepbrother Maurice Shakur filed a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court.

"There remain individuals who were involved in Tupac's murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes," his complaint says.

The suit cites a recent TV documentary series titled Sean Combs: The Reckoning, in which Davis says in an interview with police that Combs, now in prison himself, offered him $1m to kill Shakur.

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Suge Knight Named Among Witnesses in Keefe D's Tupac Murder Trial


As the 30th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's death nears, embattled record executive Suge Knight could be called to testify in the murder trial of Duane "Keefe D" Davis in connection with the iconic rapper's 1996 killing.

TheGrapeJuice.net

The Clark County District Attorney's Office filed a 16-page supplemental witness list identifying more than 200 potential witnesses. In addition to Knight's inclusion, former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo, and former LAPD Detective Greg Kading are also on the list.

The former Death Row Records CEO was riding in the passenger seat of the BMW when Shakur was shot in Vegas in September 1996. Kading has long maintained that Davis admitted his role in the shooting during a 2009 interview.

Davis was arrested in 2023 after decades of publicly discussing the case. He has acknowledged being inside the Cadillac from which gunfire erupted on September 7, 1996, but he has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Prosecutors also allege Davis orchestrated the shooting as retaliation for a fight involving members of Death Row Records at the MGM Grand earlier that evening.

Shakur died six days after the shooting at age 25. Jury selection and opening arguments are scheduled to begin on August 10.

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Tupac Murder Suspect Keefe D Takes a Massive Gamble Ahead of Trial



AOL

Duane "Keefe D" Davis has rejected a plea deal ahead of his upcoming trial in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, maintaining that he is innocent despite prosecutors' allegations. His decision comes just days before jury selection is set to begin in one of hip-hop's most closely watched criminal cases.

Keefe D Maintains His Innocence and Points the Finger Elsewhere in Tupac's Murder

The court has scheduled Duane "Keefe D" Davis to stand trial in the Tupac Shakur murder case on August 10, 2026. Ahead of the trial, Davis has continued to maintain his innocence while alleging that others were responsible for the crime, as reported by The Blast.

Recently, Davis appeared in an interview with 8News Now, where he stated that he had not committed any crime. He added that he saw no reason to accept a plea deal that could result in him spending decades behind bars.

Keefe D said, "I didn't do nothing. I'm 63. I had a cancer battle. And I got three stents to my heart, and the average American lives like 74 years old. Ten years, I'm dead."

"So why would I take a deal? I heard it was, like, 10 and 25. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to take a deal like that. Especially after I haven't done it. I'm an innocent man," he added.

Shakur was shot multiple times after attending the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in September 1996.

Shakur survived for six days after the shooting, but unfortunately, he passed away from his injuries.

The case remained unsolved for decades until a dramatic turn came in 2023 when Keefe D was arrested on suspicion of being connected to the drive-by shooting.

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A man accused of orchestrating Tupac's killing is on trial. Here's everything you need to know



AOL

Tupac Shakur's killing has gone unresolved for years.

Now, the man charged in his killing is going to trial, bringing to a head one of the most infamous mysteries in the world of hip-hop that gripped fans - and the public - alike for decades.

63-year-old Duane "Keffe D" Davis faces one charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death. The trial is scheduled to last around a month, and jury selection commences on Monday.

Rap icon Shakur, also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. He was in a black BMW with music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight on their way to Club 662, where Shakur was scheduled to perform, when a white Cadillac pulled up beside them.

Gunfire erupted. Shakur, who was in the passenger seat, was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived.

The case went cold until recent years, when public statements and a tell-all memoir from Davis revived the case. He was a leader of South Side Compton Crips at the time of Shakur's death. Davis was arrested in 2023 and pleaded not guilty.

Here's what to know about the trial.

When and where the trial will be held

It will take place in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, with Judge Carli Kierny presiding over the case.

Jury selection starts Monday. That's expected to take a few days. Then, the prosecution and defense will give opening statements and witness testimony will begin.

Inside the courtroom, seats for the public will be in short supply, with a daily lottery for a chance to get one. A room on the second floor of the court will be open to the public and will show a live feed of the trial.

The trial likely won't answer ‘who pulled the trigger'

Prosecutors are not arguing that Davis is the one who pulled the trigger that night, and the trial likely won't confirm who fired at Shakur. Instead, prosecutors plan to prove that Davis made the calls that led to Shakur's death and provided the gun used to shoot Shakur.



Davis is the co-author of the memoir "Compton Street Legends," which describes his exact role in the shooting. The book says that Davis obtained a handgun from an associate and tossed it into the back seat of the Cadillac but did not say who fired the fatal shots.

Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, Davis' nephew, has long been considered the suspect who pulled the trigger, but charges were never brought against him in the killing. He died two years after Shakur's death in an unrelated gang shootout in Compton, California.

Two others — Deandrae "Freaky" Smith and Terry "Bubble Up" Brown — were in the car with Davis and Anderson, but they have since died as well.

Who is expected to testify

Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 witnesses during the trial, ranging from people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot to people who were in both Shakur and Davis' orbits at the time.

Their witness list includes former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and members of Shakur's family. However not everyone on the list will necessarily testify. Rather, attorneys may ask potential jurors if they're familiar with certain names.

Leonard Jefferson, a California resident who pulled up next to the BMW and snapped a photograph, which became the last known photo of Shakur, is expected to testify.

The state is also expected to call Denvonta Lee, who was affiliated with the South Side Crips.

In grand jury testimony, Lee testified that rival gangs, the Crips and Mob Piru, were tied to dueling record labels Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records.



Though he wasn't there that night, Lee also testified that Anderson didn't have a clear shot, so Smith took the gun and did the shooting. He also said Davis was in charge and gave the gun to Anderson, who gave it to Smith.

The witness list includes others who previously testified to the grand jury, including Malcolm Greenidge, a friend of Shakur's who was traveling in his entourage that night. Reggie Wright, who grew up in Compton and did security for Death Row Records, is also expected to testify.

But other witnesses will be new, including a former member of Death Row's security team and a former member of Mob Piru who was at Club 662 the night Shakur was shot.

Witnesses also include former police officers and detectives, as well as gang experts.

Davis' defense attorney is expected to call less than a handful of witnesses, including one expert in the area of false confessions and coercive interrogation techniques.

Celebrities could be at the trial

Prosecutors requested to have multiple out-of-state witnesses testify, and it's unclear who those people are.

One of the witnesses is in prison in California, according to court records. Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for running over and killing a Compton businessman outside a burger stand in January 2015. He previously said he would not testify in Davis' case.

As the only other living eyewitness who was in one of the two vehicles that night, Knight's testimony could make or break the case.



Davis' defense attorney Michael Sanft told The Associated Press that Knight would be a good witness for Davis' defense if he did testify.

Fans have also speculated whether Sean "Diddy" Combs will testify. Combs is currently serving a four-year prison sentence in New Jersey following his conviction of prostitution-related charges.

In his book, Davis alleged Combs wanted Knight and Shakur dead and offered Davis money to kill them. Combs has long denied having any involvement in the shooting.

A spokesperson for Combs did not return emailed requests asking whether he plans to testify and his name does not appear on any witness list.

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Trial opens for ex-gang leader charged with Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder



Reuters

LAS VEGAS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Jury selection is due to begin on Monday in the murder trial of an ex-street gang leader accused of masterminding the drive-by shooting death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur three decades ago in Las Vegas, a long-unsolved crime that became a seminal moment in rap music history.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is charged in Clark County, Nevada, with a single count of murder by use of a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty. Davis is accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur, 25, one of rap's most commercially successful and influential artists, in a 1996 drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

The killing heightened the image of violence permeating hip-hop culture and its lyrics during "gangsta" rap's golden age, stoking the infamous East Coast-West Coast rap feud of that era.       

Police said after Davis' 2023 arrest that he was a longtime suspect in the killing but that investigators lacked sufficient admissible evidence to charge him until he began implicating himself in a series of public statements.

The trial before Judge Carli Kierny is expected to run for up to six weeks in a downtown Las Vegas courthouse. It may feature testimony from Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, a former rap mogul who was with Shakur the night he was slain and is now serving a 28-year prison sentence on an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

THE 'SHOT CALLER'

Authorities have described Davis as the "shot caller" of a hurried plot to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of his entourage inside the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas the night of September 7, 1996.

The violence at the casino allegedly stemmed from hostility between two Los Angeles-area street gangs — the South Side Compton Crips, of which Davis was the self-described leader, and Mob Piru, which police say was associated with Knight and Death Row Records. They were in Las Vegas to see a world heavyweight title boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon.

Davis allegedly obtained the murder weapon and handed it off to two other men in the rear seat of a white Cadillac as they rode around looking for Knight and Shakur's car following the brawl.

Shots were fired when Davis and the others caught up with Knight and Shakur's vehicle. Shakur was struck four times and died in a hospital six days later. Knight, who had been driving, suffered a minor injury from a bullet fragment that grazed his head.

COLD CASE HEATS UP

The murder investigation grew cold for nearly three decades, but police said the case was reinvigorated in 2018 by statements Davis made to various media outlets about his involvement in the shooting.

Davis said in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend," that he was riding in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and had handed the gun to one of the two men sitting behind him, according to police.

But neither Davis' account nor authorities have said who is believed to have actually fired the gun at Shakur. The three other men in the Cadillac with Davis have all since died.

Under Nevada law, Davis can be charged with murder if he took part in the crime without pulling the trigger.

In his book, Davis wrote that he was long considered a suspect in the murders of Shakur and a rival rapper, Christopher Wallace, who performed as The Notorious B.I.G. under the New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment label and was shot dead in Los Angeles in March 1997.

Although the Wallace killing remains unsolved, there has long been speculation that he was gunned down in retaliation for Shakur's killing months earlier.

(Reporting by Erica Stapleton in Las Vegas; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Rod Nickel)

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After three decades, a murder trial brings focus back to the legacy of Tupac Shakur

About 10,000 people were in the arena watching. One of them was Tupac Shakur, the number one-selling rapper who had already become a hip-hop icon at the age of 25.

Away from the ring on September 7, 1996, a bicoastal beef that had been brewing for years in the music industry was about to reach its tragic apogee. Hours after Tyson's left hook sent Seldon face-first to the mat, Shakur was hit by four bullets in his vehicle - a drive-by shooting just off the Vegas Strip. Tupac's right lung was destroyed. After six days on life support, he was pronounced dead.

It took 109 seconds to settle the boxing match. It has taken 30 years for anyone to face trial over Shakur's murder.

Jury selection starts today for Duane Keith Davis - known as Keffe D - who was indicted in 2023 on one count of murder with a deadly weapon in Tupac Shakur's death. Davis, 63, has entered a not guilty plea. Prosecutors do not claim he fired the fatal shots. They say Davis orchestrated the killing in retaliation for an assault on his nephew shortly after the Tyson fight.

Shakur's death - and the similar drive-by murder of his rival Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G., less than a year later - put an uncomfortable light on the increasingly angry rivalry between East Coast and West Coast rap and whether artistic disputes were turning into violent real-world battles. Now, the Keffe D case is exposing just how deeply gang culture had become embedded in the industry's embrace of the gangsta lifestyle, embodied in an artist whose work both lamented the violence that cut many young Black lives short while also glorifying it.

"He was working through his trauma with his art, his music, his poetry," said former MTV journalist Abbie Kearse, who interviewed Shakur in 1994, "and yes, the anger comes out in real life, too, through violence."



Shakur enters the music scene, both sensitive and powerful

Tupac Shakur wasn't just about beats and rhymes. Coming up from a rough childhood with an absent father and addicted mother, Vanity Fair reported, Shakur combined a love of hip-hop and other performing arts with classical poetry and Shakespeare.

"Look at Romeo and Juliet," he told the Los Angeles Times a year before his death. "That's some serious ghetto sh*t."

After moving from the East Coast to Northern California, he joined the largely apolitical, party-focused group Digital Underground, where he first adopted the name 2Pac and served primarily as a dancer. But he had much bigger plans ahead.

Recording tracks in his spare time, Shakur secured a solo record deal. The hype man for the group best known for "Humpty Dance" released 2Pacalypse Now, a politically conscious album touching on urban violence and police brutality. After a slow start, it was eventually certified gold.

Over the course of his next studio albums, Shakur's work ran the gamut from a sensitive ode to his mother ("Dear Mama") to "So Many Tears," a sad reflection on "so many homies in the cemetery."

The former student of the Baltimore School of the Arts also became a critically praised actor in films alongside Janet Jackson and Omar Epps, earning his first role in "Juice" on the strength of his own magnetism after crashing a friend's audition. Three films starring Shakur were released after his death.

But outside the studio and off-camera, his rising success was accompanied by repeated legal battles and violent encounters.



Legal troubles send Shakur down dangerous path

Tupac was charged with shooting two off-duty police officers during a scuffle in Atlanta in 1993. Those charges were eventually dropped.

The following year, Shakur faced his most serious allegations, convicted of sexually abusing a fan during a hotel encounter he said was consensual, The New York Times reported.

During jury deliberations, Tupac dropped by a New York recording studio at the invitation of a producer to contribute to a track. He was held up in the lobby and shot five times while trying to get away.

After undergoing surgery, he left the hospital against doctors' advice, the Los Angeles Times reported, to appear at his sexual abuse sentencing in a wheelchair, his left hand bandaged and the left side of his face swollen.

Sentenced to a minimum of 18 months in prison, Shakur appealed and reached a deal with Marion "Suge" Knight - cofounder and head of Death Row Records, the top hip-hop distributor on the West Coast - getting the label to front his bail money while the appeal was pending in exchange for a three-album deal, record executive Leslie Gerard told New Yorker journalist Sheldon Pearce.

Still stinging emotionally from the recording studio shooting and assault case that both happened in New York and Shakur feared were setups, Knight told Kearse a week after Shakur's death that Tupac had more than a financial connection to Death Row.

"Tupac loved Death Row," he said. "Tupac loved me. I loved him."



That connection is ultimately what put Tupac's life in jeopardy, Davis argued in the book Compton Street Legend, which has become a key piece of evidence in the case against him. Davis, a member of the Crips, says Shakur's relationship with Knight caught him up in the Los Angeles gang turf battles that had become woven into the rap game. The Crips were tight with Bad Boy Records on the East Coast, while the Bloods, he said, supported and protected the Death Row music organization.

"At Death Row especially, there was no question about the gang affiliations," said Kearse.

"Tupac mistakenly thought Suge and the Death Row crew they were rolling with were untouchable and would protect him," Davis wrote. "He seemed to have lost touch with the reality of the streets that everyone can be touched."

His fresh association with Death Row also brought a new sound to Tupac's repertoire reminiscent of the label's breakout stars, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

The arrest in Tupac Shakur's murder leaves many wondering: What about Biggie?

Shakur quickly took to the intensity of the coastal rivalry, blasting his former friend Biggie Smalls, also known as The Notorious B.I.G., and Bad Boy's top producer Sean "Puffy" Combs in "Hit ‘Em Up," one of rap's most unambiguously brutal diss tracks that took on almost all of East Coast rap royalty by name.

With a "THUG LIFE" tattoo emblazoned in an arc above his navel - the letter "i" replaced by a bullet casing - the Tupac of "Dear Mama" seemed to be in the rear view, at least publicly.

"It was very problematic to try to decipher which is his real life and which is fictionalized, you know," Kearse told CNN. "I don't know."



Chain of events leading to murder started at a mall, suspect said

Davis and his crew of Southside Compton Crips went to Las Vegas on the night of the boxing match strictly for recreation, not for trouble, he wrote. But the group was set off when Davis' nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, was attacked at the MGM shortly after the fight.

Word got to Davis that Anderson had been beaten by Tupac and his entourage in retaliation for an incident at a shopping mall where a group of Bloods were beaten by Crips in what Davis described as "another day" of back-and-forth violence between the gangs.

"We kept it moving, but there's one thing that's for sure when living that gangster lifestyle, you already know that the stuff you put out is going to come back to you," Davis wrote of the mall incident. "You never know how or when, but there's never a doubt that it's coming."

For Shakur, Davis said it came after the Tyson fight, when the white Cadillac Davis said he was riding in sidled up to the black BMW driven by Suge Knight on East Flamingo Road.



Lead suspect ‘talked himself right into jail'

For such a complicated case, Keffe D's defense is remarkably simple: You can't trust what he says.

"I would definitely say he's a liar," Davis' then-defense attorney, Carl Arnold, said to Las Vegas television station KLAS in 2024. Arnold left the defense team a year later, CNN affiliate KSNV reported.

Davis now says the book was a work of fiction, one he attached his name to strictly for the money.

"That was the ghostwriters (who) did it. I didn't write that book," Davis told KLAS in a jailhouse interview last month, noting its incongruous mention of a quote from Winston Churchill alongside its frequently profane descriptions of street-level gang life. "Just read the book. You know I didn't write that book."

But Davis's book is part of a flurry of statements and interviews that, investigators say, taken together amount to an admission he was involved in the murder.

Davis said in the 2018 documentary "Death Row Chronicles" on BET the shots came from the back of his vehicle. In a later interview with YouTube content creator DJ Vlad, Davis said he had a "sense of remorse" for what happened.

Prosecutors say Davis gave information to investigators in a pair of recorded interviews lawyers call a "proffer." Suspects share what they know privately, usually to see whether a deal can be worked out for a lesser charge or lighter sentence. If there's no deal, prosecutors usually can't use the information against them.

But after Davis' arrest, Clark County Judge Carli Kierny ruled the proffer interviews are admissible in Keffe D's trial because Davis made many of the same statements in his book and media blitz that he had previously told police.

"Ultimately, he just talked himself right into jail," retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police investigator Greg Kading told CNN's Jake Tapper in 2023.

In his book, Keffe D acknowledged speaking to police and breaking the gangsta's code in the process.

"The Feds had followed me around for fifteen years it was finally time to get the sh*t off my chest and over with," the book said. "Everybody else from my neighborhood was getting off on the sh*t; why not get off on my sh*t? I sang because they promised I would not be prosecuted."



Who fired the shots?

Davis's book is vague on who made the call to gun down Tupac, saying it was only coincidental his crew caught up to his vehicle on the street that night, but he is clear the shooting was about revenge for the assault on his nephew.

"I stand firm on the point that Tupac, Suge Knight and the rest of those n***as didn't have any business putting their hands on my beloved nephew, Baby Lane, period," he wrote. "Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something to their asses."

Suge Knight, who was behind the wheel, was grazed in the head by a bullet and bleeding profusely as he continued driving, police said.

Although gang ties to Tupac's killing had been suspected from the beginning, the search for the killer was long hampered by the refusal of potential eyewitnesses to testify.

"All of the people seem to be looking somewhere else," Las Vegas police spokesman Phil Roland said shortly after Shakur's death.

With no gun or other physical evidence tying Davis to the crime, prosecutors are relying on his own words, even though they acknowledge they don't believe everything he has said.

In particular, Keffe D claims shots came from his vehicle after Knight or Shakur raised their own weapon. Investigators don't believe it.



Marion "Suge" Knight, chairman of Death Row Records, arrives at University Medical Center in Las Vegas after Tupac Shakur's death was announced, September 13, 1996.
Reuters
"At no point during the investigation of the vehicle were any cartridge cases found inside (Knight's) car or any weapons," retired Las Vegas officer Clifford Mogg told the grand jury in Davis' case.

Davis' decision to tell all was dramatically different from Shakur's legendary final words as he was bleeding out near Las Vegas Boulevard.

Asked by Las Vegas police officer Chris Carroll if he could name who shot him, Shakur responded, "F*ck you," Carroll said years later.

Investigators say they are not certain who shot Tupac - Anderson or DeAndre "Big Dre" Smith, who was sitting next to him in the back seat of the Cadillac. Keffe D, who was in the front passenger seat, willingly put out his own theory.

"Orlando shot Tupac and Suge?" Davis was asked in a 2021 interview.

"He did his thing, yeah," Davis responded. The indictment against Davis alleges he provided the gun used in the shooting.

Anderson denied any involvement in the shooting, and Keffe D said Tupac was actually his nephew's favorite rapper.

"He had some good-ass songs, I'm not going to lie," Davis agreed.

Anderson was killed in a gang shootout in 1998, The Los Angeles Times reported. Keffe D, now a grandfather, is the only occupant of the Cadillac still alive.



The shock of Tupac's murder ended his dreams, but not the violence

Despite the death of his biggest star and his own close call, Knight appeared to believe nothing would change in the business after Tupac's murder.

"Not at all," Knight told Kearse in 1996. "We're going to do the same thing we've been doing and sell records."

But any sense of returning to normal was threatened less than a year later when The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down - like Tupac, hit by four bullets - while leaving a party in LA's Miracle Mile. Rumors flew that it was another act of vengeance in response to Tupac's death, but an 18-month FBI investigation didn't turn up proof, and no one has ever been charged.

"It was a very sad time and a time where you weren't sure if it would continue, certainly not on the level that it was," Kearse said.

When Kearse asked Shakur in 1994 what he thought he was best known for, he laughed.

"My big mouth!" he said, drawing out the word "big" into multiple syllables. "I got a big mouth. I can't help it."

The next year, a more contemplative Shakur told MTV he recognized most people knew him by then as "a survivor" of a shooting and prison time. The murder case now coming to court after so many years is a reminder of what he had hoped to become, his chance cut short.

"I want people to be talking about me like, you know, ‘Remember when he was real bad?'" said Tupac. "Everybody changes. Everybody becomes better people, you know? We all should get that chance."

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/10/us/tupac-shakur-murder-trial

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[O.E.800]

Amazing that this guy told on himself (not to mention everyone else). All he had to do was shut the fuck up and none of this would be happening lol. Who goes on a media and book tour to talk about murders you're involved in? The rat ends up ratting himself out. What a fucking moron lmao. His lawyer must be pulling his hair out.

[Sccit]

Amazing that this guy told on himself (not to mention everyone else). All he had to do was shut the fuck up and none of this would be happening lol. Who goes on a media and book tour to talk about murders you're involved in? The rat ends up ratting himself out. What a fucking moron lmao. His lawyer must be pulling his hair out.

he's not the first n he won't be the last

 

[The Predator]

Tupac murder trial begins with Suge Knight refusing to testify as ex-Crips boss Duane 'Keffe D' Davis stands accused of ordering killing: Live updates

Jury selection has begun in the long-awaited trial of Duane 'Keffe D' Davis over the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed legendary rapper Tupac Shakur.

The proceedings kicked off in Las Vegas on Monday, nearly 30 years after the 25-year-old musician was gunned down while riding in the passenger seat of a BMW driven by former Death Row Records boss Suge Knight.

Davis, 63, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, is the only person ever charged in Shakur's killing. Prosecutors allege he ordered the revenge attack and provided the gun used in the shooting, although they do not claim he pulled the trigger.



Knight, who was wounded in the shooting and is the only surviving eyewitness, has said he does not want to testify at the trial.

'This trial has nothing to do with me and if somebody brings me there, it's gonna hurt whoever brings me there. I promise you that,' Knight told ABC News last week.

Shakur had been in Las Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996, hours before a white Cadillac pulled alongside the BMW and gunfire erupted. He died from his injuries six days later.

The selection is expected to take about a week, while the trial itself could last more than a month. Davis has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Suge Knight insists he won't testify against Tupac murder suspect, despite being with rapper when he was murdered

Marion 'Suge' Knight has insisted on several occasions that he won't be testifying against Tupac's murder suspect despite being with the rapper when he was killed.

Duane 'Keefe D' Davis was arrested by Las Vegas detectives in October 2023 and was charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon in Shakur's case.

Knight, the 61-year-old Death Row Records co-founder, told TMZ in 2023 that he believes police have arrested the wrong man for Tupac's murder, and stated that he would not be taking the stand in court.

He was injured during the 1996 shooting, and despite being the only living witness, said: '1000% I wouldn't go. I wouldn't testify, none of that.'

Last week, he doubled down on his defiant statements to ABC News, saying: 'This trial has nothing to do with me and if somebody brings me there, it's gonna hurt whoever brings me there. I promise you that.'

Knight is currently serving a 28-year jail sentence for a hit-and-run crash in 2015

Death Row Records co-founder, Marion "Suge" Knight, appears at a pretrial court hearing on May 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. - Knight is charged with several crimes, including attempted murder and hit-and-run for allegedly ramming his pickup truck into two men, killing one of them, after a dispute on the set of the movie "Straight Outta Compton."

Getting a seat inside the Tupac murder trial won't be easy

Members of the public hoping to watch one of hip-hop's most anticipated murder trials in person will have to rely on luck to get inside the courtroom.

Public seating at the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas will be extremely limited, with seats being handed out through a daily lottery, according to AP News.

Those who fail to secure a coveted courtroom seat will still have another option.

Officials are opening a room on the courthouse's second floor where members of the public can watch a live feed of the proceedings.

Judge Carli Kierny is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last about a month.

Tupac's cousin arrives at courthouse as jury selection begins

Tupac Shakur's cousin was among the rapper's family members and supporters who gathered outside the Las Vegas courthouse as jury selection got underway on Monday.

Kendrick Lesane, who travelled in from Atlanta for the long-awaited trial, said he was hoping to finally see justice served for his famous relative, according to the Associated Press.

Speaking emotionally outside court, Lesane described Shakur as 'an angel from God' and a 'righteous man" as Duane 'Keffe D' Davis prepared to face a jury nearly 30 years after the rapper's brutal murder.

'Whoever had anything to do with it, whoever set it up, whoever had any hand in it should be locked up in prison,' Lesane told AP News.

He added that those responsible should be made to serve 'significant time' for taking away 'an icon, a legend, and a great human being.'

Up to 45 witnesses could take the stand in Tupac murder trial

As jury selection gets underway in Las Vegas in the Tupac Shakur murder trial, prosecutors are preparing to call as many as 45 witnesses in the case against Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, according to AP News.

The sprawling witness list is expected to include members of Shakur's entourage, former law enforcement officials, gang affiliates and experts who could help jurors understand the bitter rivalries surrounding the rapper at the time of his death.

The trial is expected to last about a month after a jury is seated.

Previously unseen Tupac lyrics foreshadowing his tragic death emerged in 2025

Previously unknown recordings and lyrics from Tupac Shakur that featured strangely foreshadowing lyrics emerged in March 2025.

The three unreleased songs featured Tupac as the lead were part of a shelved project from the early 1990s with a group called Jesse and the Kidz.

The discovered cassette tape lists the tracks 'Leave Us Kidz Alone,' 'Streetz got ya Babies', and 'Bedtime Storiez'.

Notably, 'Streetz got ya Babies' contains some eerie lyrics that could almost have foreseen Tupac's own violent death as they allude to fearing someone was after him.

They read: 'Mama told me to watch my back and that's what I'm gonna do' and 'traded in my zip gun got me a .22'.

Additionally, handwritten lyrics for a song titled 'Daze,' reflecting on Tupac's childhood and parental lessons, have also been revealed. Both the recordings and lyrics are now available for private sale through MomentsInTime.com.

Haunting footage of Tupac talking about P Diddy's involvement in a shooting two years before he was killed has resurfaced online.

The legendary rapper was shot five times during a robbery at Quad Studios in Times Square on November 30, 1994, and in an April 1995 interview with Vibe magazine, he claimed Sean 'Diddy' Combs was the mastermind behind the set-up.

In footage from the interview, reposted last week by YayAreaNews on X, formerly Twitter, Tupac, who died aged 25 in September 1996, was asked: 'Do you think Puffy was involved in the shoot?'

Tupac was shot five times at Quad Studios in 1994, and in an April 1995 interview with Vibe magazine, he claimed Sean 'Diddy' Combs was the mastermind behind the set-up.

The rapper signed with Death Row in 1995, and they put out his fourth studio album, All Eyez On Me, released in February 1996, just seven months before his death.

Knight was driving a black BMW 750iL with Tupac in the passenger seat when a late model Cadillac pulled up to the car and fired several shots, with Shakur struck four times, twice in the chest.

Shakur - born Lesane Parish Crooks - was put on life support and underwent emergency surgeries, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries on September 13, 1996, six days after the Las Vegas shooting.

Tupac Shakur died at the height of his success

Shakur's death came as his fourth solo album, 'All Eyez on Me,' remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold.

Nominated six times for a Grammy Award, Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.

He was feuding at the time with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also known as the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot in March 1997.

At the time, both rappers were in the middle of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry that primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s.

Shakur accused Biggie and Sean 'Diddy' Combs, of being behind another shooting in 1994.

He was shot in a hotel lobby and was seriously injured, but survived the attack, accusing both of the rappers of being linked to the attack.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis will ask a judge next week of June 23, 2024, to let him out of jail pending trial on a murder charge of Tupac Shakur.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis wants to be allowed to post $750,000 bond to be freed to house arrest at home in suburban Henderson pending trial in November.

Tupac Shakur's step-brother slammed Las Vegas murder detectives for taking so long to arrest Keffe D: 'He's been running his mouth for years'

In September 2023, Mopreme Shakur, Tupac's step-brother, called Keffe D's arrest 27 years after the death of the rapper 'bittersweet'.

'We have been through decades of pain,' he told CNN at the time, 'They have known about this guy, who been running his mouth, for years.

'So why now? For us, this is not over. We want to know why, and if there were any accomplices.'

Duane 'Keefe D' Davis charged with Tupac Shakur murder

Mopreme Shakur, Tupac's step-brother, called the arrest of Davis 27 years after the death of the rapper 'bittersweet'.

What happened on the night of Tupac Shakur's murder?

Shakur was 25 years old when he was shot four times in the chest on September 7, 1996 while he was in Las Vegas. He died on September 13.

The rapper was in a BMW driven by Suge Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars.

They were waiting at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and gunfire erupted.

Cops say that Duane 'Keffe D' Davis started to 'devise a plan' to kill Shakur and Knight after they attacked his nephew at a Mike Tyson boxing match.

Duane 'Keffe D' Davis will see day in court three years after arrest

Davis has spoken openly about being at the scene of the drive-by shooting 27 years ago, and admitted handing the murder weapon that killed Tupac Shakur to a fellow gang member. Davis is the only one who was in the car that night who is still alive.

Davis was arrested in Henderson, Nevada, after he was indicted by a grand jury in October 2023. He was charged with murder with a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement.

Witnesses in the case pointed to Davis as being a member of the South Side Crips and a known drug trafficker. Shakur was affiliated with gangs, including the Bloods and Mob Piru, but was not considered a member.

For years, Davis has spoken about his apparent role in the death of the rapper in numerous interviews, including in a memoir about his life on the streets.

Shooting and Facts:

    Shots Fired: ~12-14 rounds
    Hits on Tupac: 4 rounds (.40-caliber from a Glock)




----------------

Tupac's Murder Case Heads to Trial, 30 Years After Rap Icon's Death

Duane "Keffe D" Davis was arrested in 2023 on allegations that he orchestrated the rapper's death in 1996.

Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Begins
Duane "Keffe D" Davis enters a courtroom in Clark County District Court for a trial readiness status check at the Regional Justice Center on

The murder trial linked to the death of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur will officially begin with jury selection in Las Vegas on Monday, nearly three years after Duane "Keffe D" Davis was first arrested and charged in 2023, and almost 30 years since Shakur was killed.

Davis stands accused of orchestrating Shakur's murder and faces a count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the rapper's death.

Shakur's death is one of the most infamous unresolved incidents in pop culture and was the subject of significant skepticism and theories for decades. The rapper was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, riding in the passenger seat while former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was driving. Shakur was hospitalized and died six days later.

Knight, who is in prison for manslaughter over an unrelated fatal hit-and-run case, recently gave an interview to ABC News, where he said he wouldn't cooperate with authorities. "This trial has nothing to do with me and if somebody brings me there, it's gonna hurt whoever brings me there," he said.

Davis, a self-admitted former South Side Compton Crips gang leader, was officially arrested in late September of 2023, months after authorities in Las Vegas had issued a search warrant in July. Shakur's murder has long been speculated as the culmination of the intense East Coast/West Coast Hip-Hop rivalry of the '90s. Death Row, where Shakur was signed, was affiliated with the Bloods. Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, Death Row's east coast rival, was allegedly tied to the Crips. Combs, currently serving a 50-month prison sentence on prostitution charges, has frequently denied playing a part in Shakur's death.

Davis himself isn't accused of firing the gun but providing the weapon and helping orchestrate the crime. He'd long been speculated as a potential suspect in the case, and he himself had previously spoken about his involvement, including in his memoir Compton Street Legend back in 2019, where he said he'd provided the gun used in the shooting. The book served as a key piece of evidence from the prosecution thus far, though Davis has pleaded not guilty and has distanced himself from the contents of the memoir, saying the information in the book was false and designed to sell copies.

As Davis's legal team said last month, per the New York Times: "We're putting way too much credence and value and weight on statements that are made for entertainment purposes only. Not a confession to a priest, not a confession to a police officer, but rather to promote a book, to sell a product."

Davis is the only person to have been arrested over Shakur's killing since his 1996 death. Jury selection itself is expected to take several days, and the trial is expected to take about a month. If convicted, Davis faces life in prison.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/tupac-shakur-trial-murder-jury-selection-1236666245/

------------------

30 years later, a former rival will stand trial for Tupac's murder



1 hour ago

BBC

Tupac's murder helped elevate the rapper from the face of gangsta rap to a cultural icon

It's been three decades filled with mystery, conspiracies - and anger.

The drive-by shooting that killed rap superstar Tupac Shakur on 7 September 1996 changed the trajectory of hip-hop and elevated the rapper from the face of the genre to a cultural icon.

His killing became one of popular culture's great mysteries, with countless theories but no arrests until 2023, when Duane "Keffe D" Davis was unexpectedly charged with murdering the famous rapper.

The 63-year-old former gang boss is due to stand trial in Las Vegas, where he is accused of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He's pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.

The trial is likely to unravel the intricacies of the bitter and deadly East Coast vs West Coast rap rivalries AND turf wars between the Bloods and the Crips street gangs that were immortalised in rap lyrics and news reports in the 1990s.

It could also include several celebrity witnesses - including Suge Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records, who has been thought of as the last surviving witness to Shakur's death.

But the complicated case hinges almost exclusively on one key piece of evidence: a book co-authored by Davis that he has argued is partially a piece of fiction.

Jury selection in the case began on Monday, with opening arguments slated to start on 17 August.

To understand how the case became so mythologised, you have to go back to rivalries that grew larger than the men at its centre.

In the Los Angeles gang landscape of the 1990s, there was a vicious turf war between the Bloods, often represented by the color red, and Crips, who often wore blue. But that territorial dispute spread through the airwaves as part of a bigger national rivalry - East Coast vs West Coast rap. The genre dispute was represented by two rival record companies that defined 1990s hip-hop: Knight's Death Row Records and Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records.

"The funny thing about it is Tupac is actually an East Coast rapper," said Jeff Pearlman, author of Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur.

Born in New York City, Tupac moved to northern California as a teenager. He became known as a Southern California rapper after signing with Death Row Records, which included acts like Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre.

Santi Elijah Holley, author of An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created, says the Death Row persona never told the whole story.

Tupac's mother Afeni was a Black Panther and he grew up around the Black liberation movement. Holley says his music became his politics: "His activism was his art, his lyrics."

He acted in a number of Hollywood movies, and released hip-hop's first double album, All Eyez on Me, which sold over 5,000,000 copies. That album, which debuted months before his death, cemented his place in the cannon of gangsta rap, a genre that celebrated the violent life of street criminals and drug dealers.

After he was shot in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996, he became immortalised as a kind of martyr for the lifestyle he helped make famous.
Getty Images Tupac and Snoop Dogg appear outside the American Music Awards in Los AngelesGetty Images

That fatal night began when Tupac and Knight attended a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand.

After the match, surveillance footage captured Tupac and members of his entourage, who police have said were associated the Mob Piru Bloods street gang, attacking a man named Orlando Anderson, an alleged member of the South Side Compton Crips.

About three hours after the attack, Tupac was riding in the passenger seat of Knight's BMW driving through Las Vegas when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them and opened fire.

Tupac was hit four times and died six days later.

For nearly three decades, the killing remained one of America's most famous unsolved murders. There is no single explanation why.

Las Vegas police have long said witnesses refused to cooperate. Members of Tupac's entourage said police initially treated them like suspects and failed to follow important leads.

Within weeks of the shooting, investigators had identified Anderson from the MGM footage and questioned him.

He denied involvement and was never charged; he was killed in an unrelated shooting in 1998.

Over the years, police say they pursued thousands of tips, but the case stalled amid disappearing witnesses, many of whom were also killed in gang-related shootings, limited physical evidence, and a street code that forbid cooperation with police.

It was years later when Anderson's uncle, Davis, started talking and according to police, blew the case wide open again.
Getty Images Notorious Big poses for a photograph at the Billboard Music AwardsGetty Images

It was ultimately the death of another legendary rapper that helped unravel Tupac's shooting death.

Months after Shakur was gunned down, Biggie Smalls or the Notorious BIG, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.

Both rappers were the stars of their respective rival record labels - Shakur with Death Row Records and Biggie with Bad Boy Records.

Biggie's case has remained unsolved, with no arrests or suspects.

In the mid 2000's the Los Angeles Police Department reopened the investigation and spoke with Davis, who was at a party with Biggie before the fatal shooting. While Davis said he didn't have information about Biggie's death, he did have knowledge in Tupac's case and shared that he was in the car when the rapper was shot and killed. He told police the information in exchange that he not be charged.

That deal stuck until years later, when Davis went public with his knowledge.

He co-authored a memoir in 2019 titled Compton Street Legend, that claimed he not only was inside the vehicle when Tupac was shot but also he was the person who "tossed" the gun used to kill him into the backseat of the Cadillac. He never claimed to be the person who opened fire.

Davis also elaborated on the shooting to the media, detailing information to reporters in interviews.

Las Vegas police said his public statements had "reinvigorated" the investigation. Over the next couple of years they spent time corroborating Davis' account and then in 2023, searched his home and seized multiple computers, two tubs of photographs and a slew of Tupac-related material, including a Vibe magazine.

He was arrested later that year.

Prosecutors have alleged that Tupac's killing was in retaliation for the beating of Davis' nephew - Orlando Anderson - just hours before the shooting.

They claim that Davis was the architect of the crime, who ordered the shooting and supplied the deadly weapon to further gang criminal conduct.

    Listen to Fame Under Fire: The Tupac Murder Trial

Promo banner features picture of Tupac with title: Fame Under Fire: The Tupac Murder Trial

Nevada prosecutors argued that by publicly talking about what happened on the night of Tupac's death and writing a book where he claimed to have supplied the gun, Davis had broken the agreement he entered with law enforcement. A judge later sided with the prosecutor's argument, opening the door for Davis's arrest.

Davis and his defence team have argued that the book was co-authored and sections were embellished or fictionalised to make a profit, and they should not be viewed as direct admissions. In an interview last week with a local TV news station, Davis denied being in Las Vegas when Tupac was killed and distanced himself from the memoir that lists him as an author.

"I did not write that book," Davis told Fox 5. "A ghost writer wrote that."

He also said he might take the stand and testify at his trial. "If I have to, I will."

"This is what makes this case so fascinating. The two biggest pieces of evidence against Keffe D came from Keffe D," trial attorney Shaun Kent told the BBC. "Keffe D has the right to take the stand and say 'I made all this up. I lied to sell copies of the book. I lied to the police. I'm a liar but I did not murder Tupac.'"

Davis has also publicly stated multiple times that Bad Boy Records head Sean "Diddy" Combs had offered him $1m to kill Death Row Records rivals Tupac and Knight.

Combs is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence after being convicted for two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution in New York. He has repeatedly denied allegations that he was involved in Tupac's death.

Prosecutors have released a list of potential witnesses who could be called to testify, with over 200 names, including members of Tupac's family, former mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman and former Los Angeles police Detective Greg Kading.

Prosecutors have also named Knight, although it's unclear if the rap empresario will testify, as he's previously said he would not.

"This would be huge as he has never offered law enforcement any information that would lead to the conviction of anyone," Kent said. "This trial is going to be a legal scholar's Super Bowl."

[The Predator]

This took place a while back, but is part of the case -

Pacs Autopsy brought up during Keefe D trial, questioning and new photos shown - court files

Link to court docs:

https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/e4/6e/d1fb54f64512b3e23aa82fe95289/c-23-377407-1-transcript-of-proceedings-trans-crm.pdf

Snippet from court doc:

Q. So you were present during the autopsy of Mr. Shakur?

A. I was.

Q. Do you recall the medical examiner that was conducting that autopsy?

A. It was Dr. Jordan.

Q. During the course of the autopsy back in those days, were there photographs that were taken mostly by Metro instead of the Clark County Coroner's personnel?

A. Yeah, there was somebody from the crime scene, crime scene analyst, and I don't recall the specific analyst that was there at that time so.

Q. But it was Metro's, back in those days it was Metro's responsibility to be the major documenters of the autopsy by way of photographs, the coroner's office did not take as many photographs?

A. I didn't know the coroner's office even took any, so yes.

Q. I'm going to show you what's been marked as Grand Jury Exhibits 8 through -- sorry. I think -- may I? They're supposed to start at 9.

A JUROR: Nine? MR. DIGIACOMO: The CD is 8.

A JUROR: Oh. MR. DIGIACOMO: We're going to have a little correction here made and then we will have 9, or sorry, 8 recreated for the Grand Jury that we played last time.

A JUROR: Sorry. MR. DIGIACOMO: That's all right.

Q. So I'm going to show you what's been now correctly marked as Grand Jury Exhibits 9 through 12 and ask you to take a look at those.

A. Okay.

Q. Do you recognize what's depicted in those photographs?

A. I do.

Q. Are they true, fair and accurate depictions of Mr. Shakur after his death?

A. Yes, and prior to the actual autopsy.

Q. I'm going to go through those. They're going to pop up on the big screen for you. Let's start with Grand Jury Exhibit Number 9. So when Mr. Shakur is brought to autopsy, there's overall photographs taken of him prior to any medical or any autopsy cutting or anything like that?

A. Correct.

Q. And this appears to be a photograph of a full body shot of Mr. Shakur from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet?

A. Correct.

Q. Grand Jury Exhibit Number 10. I want you to kind of ignore the medical intervention, but sort of stitched up here, during the course of your investigation did you learn that that was ultimately the fatal gunshot wound generally in that location on Mr. Shakur's body?

A. Correct.

Q. And then he had two injuries that appeared to be associated with gunshot wounds?

A. That's correct, on his hip.

Q. And that's Grand Jury Exhibit Number 11. A. And there was also one on the finger of the right hand.

Q. And on this photograph on the bottom that's Mr. Shakur's right hand?

A. Correct.

Q. And there appeared to have been a through-and-through injury that appeared to be related to gunshots?

A. Correct. MR. DIGIACOMO: Thank you. That completes my questions for the witness if the Grand Jury has any questions.

2Pac autopsy picture published in the book 'Killing of 2Pac' by Cathy Scott -

(Warning, Graphic)

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fpacs-autopsy-brought-up-during-keefe-d-trial-questioning-v0-hpc49oh2knkg1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D11c24edf9ef212fd4b8b1c0aea6a41e646df287b

[Mr. T H E O]

FUCK PUFF DIDDY

[The Predator]

Hear Tupac's alleged killer make incriminating jail call about unsolved murder on eve of trial

The gangbanger who allegedly ordered the murder of Tupac Shakur undermined his own defense in a braggadocious phone call to his mistress, The Post can exclusively reveal.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis contradicted his stance that he lied about orchestrating rapper Shakur's Las Vegas 1996 drive-by shooting, stated in his own memoir, which he has since claimed was all penned by a ghost writer.

In the seven-minute jail call to his female pal, whose ID is not revealed, she asks him: "What's this book they say you wrote?" to which Keffe replies: "Oh, yeah, I did."

After his death, Tupac Shakur became a legend. During his rap-star prime, he was beloved by girls and gangsters.

Prosecutors allege Davis — a member of South Side Compton Crips gang — was in a car with his nephew, Orlando Anderson, and threw him the gun used to shoot 25-year-old Shakur four times.

Davis, 63, was first named as being behind the hit in Los Angeles detective Greg Kading's 2011 book "Murder Rap." In the jail call, made days after his 2023 arrest, he railed on the former cop over the heat it brought on him.


Tupac murder suspect Keefe D allegedly brags about killing in shocking audio
Tupac murder suspect addresses fears Suge Knight could out him in upcoming memoir

"He had my life f—ked up. I crawled up under a rock for six years. I just got tired of it. You don't say that s—t ... they don't know the motherf—ing truth," he tells the woman, who refers to Davis as her "husband," despite him being married to someone else.

The call, obtained by The Post, also corroborates Davis' link to other key people, including Devonta "Dirt Rock" Lee, who gave key testimony in the Grand Jury indictment and will be a witness in the trial, as well as other Crip gang affiliates.

Besides overflowing with talent, Tupac Shakur exuded no small amount of charisma.


Morgue image of Tupac Shakur's body, showing his bandaged hand and torso with stitches and a tattoo.

The "Thuglife" tattoo on Tupac Shakur's torso told a lot about how he wanted to be perceived. This morgue image of him has been entered into evidence for the Duane Davis murder trial. Provided to NY Post

It is expected to be used by prosecutors as evidence against Davis when his murder trial begins on Monday in Las Vegas.

"California Love" rapper Shakur was riding with label boss Marion "Suge" Knight on the Las Vegas strip when he was shot after a Mike Tyson boxing match on Sept. 7, 1996. He died from his injuries in hospital six days later.

On the night of Shakur's shooting he'd had an altercation with Anderson, Davis' nephew, in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel immediately after the Tyson fight.

As Davis recounts in his book, "Compton Street Legend," following Anderson's beating — which was caught on security camera — he told him: "We couldn't let no record company studio gangsters do us like that," and went to find their adversaries.
New York Post cover headline announcing Tupac Shakur's death.



Tupac Shakur was enough of a star that his killing made The Post's cover.

Davis and his crew took their rented white Cadillac and looked for Shakur and Knight.

"According to Keffe D., he's in the front passenger seat with a 40-caliber Glock they picked up in Vegas," a law enforcement insider close to the case told The Post.

Davis claims in his book he "tossed the Glock in the backseat" after they stocked up on Dom Perignon at a liquor store.

They then encountered Knight and Shakur, who were on their way to night spot Club 662, around 11:15 p.m. Davis allegedly pulled up alongside their black BMW with Knight behind the wheel. "Pac pulled out a strap," his book claims, referring to a gun, "and that's when the fireworks started."




Vegas-based attorney Michael Sanft sits stonefaced alongside his amused client Duane "Keffe D" Davis on July 28, 2026. Sanft has said that he dies not advise settling for anything less than an acquittal.


Duane Davis appears for a calendar call and motion hearing for his upcoming trial on murder charges. In a call to his mistress, he complained about prison-food being so lousy that he lost weight. via REUTERS

Davis has always maintained Anderson — who died aged just 23 in a gang shootout two years later — pulled the trigger.

Two other people were in the car with Davis and Anderson that night, but have also died, leaving he and Knight the only people alive who can testify.

A family friend told The Post Davis' wife, Paula "is livid with Keffe for opening his big mouth and causing this problem."

At the time of Shakur's death, he was caught up in the notorious East Vs West coast gangster rap war, which pitted him and Knight's Death Row Records against New York's Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean "Diddy" Combs and led by his protégé Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace. 



Boxers Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon exchanging punches during their championship bout. 15
In the sanctioned fight before the unofficial scuffle that preceded the shooting of Tupac Shakur, Mike Tyson sets up Bruce Seldon for a first-round knockout.

Night shot of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, with the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in the background and light trails from passing cars in the foreground.



MGM Grand in Las Vegas is where the Mike Tyson fight took place and where, soon after the match ended, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson took a beat down from a crew that Included Tupac Shakur. Getty Images

Associates of Bad Boy and Wallace were present when Shakur was shot multiple times at Quad Studios, New York, in Nov. 1994 — initially sparking that feud, which led to multiple shootings and rap diss tracks including Shakur's infamous "Hit ‘em Up."

Shakur and Knight were also associated with the Bloods street gang, while Diddy is rumored to have then had ties to the Crips, both based out of Los Angeles and at war with each other.

Despite the animosity, no-one in the rap or gang worlds would speak to the cops, making investigating the murder much harder.

Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence behind bars after fatally running over a rival record label owner with a truck in 2015.
Tupac Shakur and Mike Tyson talking


In Las Vegas, during 1996, the same year he would be shot dead in the city, following a Tyson fight. Tupac Shakur chilled with Iron Mike.


Duane ‘Keffe D' Davis, a self-admitted Compton gangster, co-authored this book that he is now trying to distance himself from. KingDoMedia

The East-West rap battle claimed its second most high-profile victim, Wallace, in March 1997. He was also killed in a drive-by shooting, which took place outside the Peterson Automotive museum in Los Angeles, and he was also shot four times. He had just attended a party to mark the release of his second album "Life After Death."

Wallace's murder remains unsolved, but the motive is widely accepted as being in retaliation for the murder of Shakur.

It was during the investigation into Wallace's death Davis first came to the attention of authorities. The Los Angeles Police Department brought him in for questioning in December 2008, and knowing of his gang ties, asked him about the murder.

"The LAPD was working on a case against Davis for allegedly trafficking large quantities of PCP and cocaine. He said, ‘I can't tell you anything about [Biggie]. But I can tell you about the case in Las Vegas,'" the law enforcement source told The Post.

A bullet-riddled car in which rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP

Davis was given a proffer agreement, a process in which anything self-incriminating a subject says during interviews cannot then be used to prosecute him.

"Keffe's nephew was always the primary suspect," the insider added. "He was a known shooter, he was already a suspect in at least one other murder, and he was the one attacked by Tupac.

"He also was a known gang member. So, Orlando had motive and means. So Keffe D. basically corroborated what everybody always suspected ... but he tossed the gun onto the backseat," indicating, as the senior gang member, he wanted Anderson to carry out the shooting.

Sources believe Davis misunderstood how the terms of his agreement with cops worked when he suddenly started talking about being the "shot caller" years later.

"He started going on different platforms and talking about the murder. I think his narcissism and hubris blinded him to the reality that you can't talk about this stuff."

While material submitted in a proffer session can't be used in court to prosecute the crime police are investigating at that time, law enforcement sources made it clear that admitting to a crime publicly will always make you liable for it.

On September 29, 2023, police arrested Davis in front of his home in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas.


At a press conference in Clark County, Nevada, police officials presented a video image of Suge Knight behind the wheel and Tupac Shakur in the front passenger seat before the shooting..

In his jailhouse call he was confident of beating the rap, saying: "I got some good ass attorney ... He came out of retirement to help me and he got all my stuff. So I got a big ass win. And I am gonna sue the s—t out of their asses."

Top Vegas lawyer Mike Sanft is representing Davis. He would not comment about the phone call to The Post but called the Clark County District Attorney's case "weak," maintaining they don't have enough evidence for a conviction.
Mug shot of Duane "Keffe D" Davis.


Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur looked tough for the camera. Both wound up dead from drive-by shootings.

Sanft claimed Davis was "exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, even though it is not in good taste," with his book.

The trial is expected to provide some explosive moments, with Knight on the witness list to give evidence.

Hip hop fans are also intrigued to hear if Wallace's former boss, Diddy — currently in federal prison on prostitution related charges — is brought up during trial.

But mostly they are excited about finally finding out what actually happened on the night Shakur's legend was cut short.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/09/us-news/tupacs-unsolved-murder-update-as-incriminating-jail-call-from-alleged-killer-emerges-on-eve-of-trial/

[Citizen-Y]

Rap snitches, telling all their business
Sit in the court and be their own star witness
"Do you see the perpetrator?" "Yeah, I'm right here"
Fuck around, get the whole label sent up for years

[The Predator]

Keefe D @ court yesterday looking dapper in his best blue, nice tie...i got one just like it -

[dnjp4life]

All this time, and I've never seen that other autopsy picture of 2Pac before.

Damn 

I hate the people that did this to him but the bottom line is he shouldn't have gotten so deep with the Mob Piru as he was an outsider and that beef was for others to deal with.

[The Predator]

This case is getting major attention worldwide.

What to Know About Tupac's Murder Trial and Suspect Duane ‘Keffe D' Davis



(Variety)

LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 19: Duane "Keffe D" Davis arrives for a court appearance on October 19, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Davis was indicted on murder charges for his involvement in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996.


For three decades, rap legend and cultural icon Tupac Shakur's killing has remained one of America's great unsolved mysteries, spawning countless books, documentaries and long-form investigative journalism pieces. Now, the man accused of orchestrating his 1996 shooting is finally headed to trial with his memoir, as well as a Netflix docuseries on Diddy, serving as key evidence.

Jury selection began on Monday in the case against Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, who is facing one charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death. Prosecutors allege Davis both ordered the killing of Shakur and provided the murder weapon. (Davis has maintained his innocence.)


On the night of Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times with a Glock .22 pistol while his car was stopped at a red light in Paradise, Nev. The bullets came from a white Cadillac that had pulled up alongside Shakur's vehicle — which was being driven by his label boss, Marion "Suge" Knight — and struck the hip-hop artist in the chest, arm and thigh, while one of the bullets grazed Knight in the head. Shakur succumbed to his injuries six days later.

Police arrested Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a member of the South Side Crips gang, on Oct. 2 in connection with the shooting — only to release him the same day without being charged. Shakur and his entourage had attacked Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the night of Sept. 7, mere hours before the shooting, after an affiliate of Shakur's (and member of the rival Mob Pirus Bloods gang) recognized Anderson as someone who'd attempted to rob him. Two days after the shooting, on Sept. 9, the South Side Crips and Mob Pirus Bloods engaged in an all-out gang war that culminated in three deaths, and Anderson was shot in the leg and confined to a wheelchair. On Sept. 12, Shakur's mother, Afeni, filed a wrongful death suit against Anderson, which was settled before Anderson perished in another gang shooting in 1998.

Though Anderson has long been suspected of being the gunman who fired the fatal shots that killed Shakur, his uncle, Davis, who was seated in the white Cadillac, had also been implicated in the drive-by shooting. Greg Kading, a former LAPD detective who'd participated in the task force that investigated the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., self-published the 2011 book "Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations," which not only implicated Sean "Diddy" Combs in the killing of Shakur, owing to the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry, but also included portions of a taped interview Davis did with police in 2008 where he claimed Diddy had offered him $1 million to assassinate Shakur and Knight.

"[Diddy] took me downstairs and he's like, ‘Man, I want to get rid of them dudes...' I was like, We'll wipe their ass out quick, it's nothing," Davis said in the confession, according to Kading's book.

Davis subsequently spent years boasting about his purported role in Shakur's killing. In 2018, to drum up anticipation for his upcoming memoir, he appeared in the BET docuseries "Death Row Chronicles," where he discussed the night of Shakur's murder, suggesting that the murder weapon was passed from someone in the backseat of the white Cadillac, but he wouldn't say who. "Going to keep it for the code of the streets," Davis remarked, adding, "It just came from the backseat, bro."

Davis released his memoir, "Compton Street Legend," in 2019, whose intro stated, "I'm one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac's killing," before describing the night of Shakur's killing in detail. In the book, Davis claims that he got a Glock and entered the white Cadillac with three others, looking for payback against Shakur and Knight for what they'd done to Anderson. "No words exchanged, the time for talking had passed, the shit was about to go down!" he wrote.

The book continued: "Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat. Pac pulled out a strap, and that's when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin' back."

According to The New York Times, a detective within the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who had been assigned to dig into the Shakur cold case stumbled upon Davis' memoir and used it as evidence to build his case against him. "In 2023, he read aloud excerpts from the book to a grand jury, which ultimately indicted Mr. Davis on one count of murder in Mr. Shakur's killing. Mr. Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement," reported the Times.

"Had he never decided to take money and go on BET and talk about this situation, had he decided to never write the book, he would not, probably, have ever been prosecuted for the crime," Marc DiGiacomo, a prosecutor on the Davis case, said during a hearing last month.

Meanwhile, Michael Sanft, a lawyer for Davis, has claimed that his client embellished many of the stories in "Compton Street Legend," declaring during the hearing, "We're putting way too much credence and value and weight on statements that are made for entertainment purposes only."

In addition to Davis' memoir, there is the matter of "Sean Combs: The Reckoning," a four-part docuseries directed by Alexandria Stapleton and produced by 50 Cent that was released Dec. 2 of last year on Netflix. The doc revealed that one year before Shakur's killing, Diddy allegedly announced to "a whole room full of Crips" at a party that he would pay any amount for Shakur and Knight to be killed, and also re-aired portions of Davis' interview with police — first circulated by Kading in "Murder Rap" — wherein he said Diddy met with him and offered $1 million to kill Shakur and Knight. (Diddy has denied any involvement in Shakur's death.) Shakur's estate filed a civil suit against Davis in April, alleging that grand jury transcripts and "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" have "revealed the existence of a broader, more complex conspiracy to murder Tupac that involved much more than mere retaliation for a prior altercation."

On July 18, 2023, the Las Vegas Police Department searched the home of Davis' wife in Henderson, Nevada, in connection with the Shakur case and arrested him on Sept. 29 of that year. He's been awaiting trial ever since, but is currently being held in Nevada's High Desert State Prison on a separate conviction for a jailhouse fight, resulting in a sentence of 16 to 40 months. Experts believe that Davis' trial for the killing of Shakur should last about a month and, although the death penalty is an option for first-degree murder convictions in Nevada, prosecutors will not be seeking it.

---------------

Sit in the court and be their own star witness

Prosecution has to prove he gave an honest and reliable account, his own defense team have to prove he's a bullshitter...

 In Tupac murder trial, the defendant is also the prosecution's star witness
 
(CNN)

Duane Davis, who goes by the nickname "Keffe D," wrote a tell-all book in 2019 laying out his role in the fatal shooting of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.

The book, "Compton Street Legend," opens in Las Vegas on the night of September 7, 1996, with a play-by-play account of his plan to confront Tupac and Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight in retaliation for an earlier fight. Davis wrote that he got a gun, hopped in a Cadillac with three others, and drove around looking for the pair. They spotted Tupac in a car and then pulled up next to it, he wrote.

"No words exchanged, the time for talking had passed, the sh*t was about to go down!" he wrote.

That version of events now represents the key evidence against Davis as he prepares to stand trial in one of America's most notorious unsolved murders. Prosecutors say Davis was the "shot caller" of the group that fatally shot Tupac and wounded Knight in 1996 and is the only person among them still alive.

The prosecution's case is largely built on the defendant's own words, including his book, podcast and documentary interviews and statements to police. The jury will not have a murder weapon, getaway vehicle or surveillance video of the shooting - but they'll have his statements.

"In this case, almost all of the evidence the state will seek to introduce, will be to establish the credibility of Defendant's various accounts of his role in the killing of Tupac Shakur," prosecutors wrote in a recent filing.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with the use of a deadly weapon. Since his arrest, he has said his prior statements were false and just an attempt to sell books, and he has blamed his co-author for inserting false information.

This all creates an unusual dynamic, legal experts said: Prosecutors are set to argue the accused murderer is credible and trustworthy, while defense attorneys will deride their client as a liar and fraud.

"It's quite the reversal," CNN Chief Legal Analyst and anchor Laura Coates said. "You rarely see something like that."

"He's the defendant but he's also the all-star witness, quite frankly," CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said.

The trial begins with jury selection Monday and is expected to last about a month. Davis faces up to life in prison if convicted.

For his part, Davis has frequently discussed that fateful night, including on the day he was arrested for Tupac's murder in September 2023.

"What they got you for, man?" the arresting officer asked.

"The biggest case in Las Vegas history," he said.

Davis has provided accounts of his role in Tupac's murder a number of times, and his story has remained fairly consistent over the years.

In 2008, he spoke to federal task force agents in a "proffer," or an agreement in which a suspect gives potentially useful information to police under the condition that police cannot use it against them, with some exceptions.

In that interview, Davis said Tupac and Knight had assaulted his nephew Orlando Anderson on the night of September 7, 1996. Davis then obtained a gun, and he, Anderson and two others went searching for Tupac and Knight in an attempt to retaliate, according to a document included in a recent legal filing.

He told law enforcement they spotted Tupac in a vehicle on the Vegas Strip, made a U-turn and pulled up to the rapper's vehicle, according to the document. Davis, sitting in the front seat, said Anderson, in the back seat, fired the fatal shots, according to the interview notes.

Davis also told Las Vegas police about his role in Tupac's death.

The proffer agreement meant police could not bring charges against Davis as a direct result of the information gathered from the proffer. Still, some details were revealed in Greg Kading's 2011 book "Murder Rap," and portions of it were later played in documentaries.
What Davis said in public

Then Davis started speaking about the case publicly.

In 2018, Davis agreed to an interview about the killing in BET's "Death Row Chronicles." He outlined his actions that night and said the fatal shots came from someone sitting in the back of the vehicle.

"Going to keep it for the code of the streets," he said. "It just came from the backseat, bro."

He published his book in February 2019 and wrote in detail about his desire for retaliation, obtaining a Glock pistol, searching for Tupac - and the moments that would change hip-hop forever.

A Nevada grand jury indicted Davis on one count of murder with a deadly weapon in the fatal drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur.

"Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat," Davis wrote. "Pac pulled out a strap, and that's when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin' back."

After the shooting, he said they drove away from the scene and abandoned their rental car. He said he and Knight are the only two people still alive who were there that night.

"The moral of the story, real Gangsters, are nothing to f**k with!" he wrote.

Davis said the process of writing the book was "therapeutic." He called the proffer agreement "the deal of a lifetime" and said he was only speaking out because of its supposed protection.

"I would never have said a word if they didn't give me such a sweet deal," he wrote. "I didn't have to do a day of time ... and I didn't tell on anybody but myself because everybody else was already dead. Think about it!"

After writing the book, Davis spoke in media interviews, including with VladTV, in which he encouraged people to buy the book.
Foggy memories, lack of witnesses

Four years after his book was published, Davis was indicted on a charge of murder that closely matches his version of events. The indictment offers several possibilities, saying Davis allegedly killed Tupac, and/or he aided and abetted the killing by obtaining a firearm and giving it to another person, and/or he conspired to carry out the killing.

To prove their case, prosecutors plan to use his statements against him, while the defense has tried to keep them out of the trial or argue they are false.

In a pretrial hearing, the judge overseeing the case ruled to allow the jury to hear his book and media interviews, saying the proffer agreement did not cover public statements. She also allowed prosecutors to use the police proffer statements, though she expressed some concerns with the legality.

Coates called Davis' statements "gold-star evidence" for the prosecution, especially in a case with little other evidence.

"This is a self-inflicted wound and aids the prosecution immeasurably, otherwise they'd have no way to get the information," she said.

In a recent filing, prosecutors sought to establish Davis' credibility, saying many parts of the book are accurate and consistent with other evidence. For example, Davis wrote in the book he was wearing a "Ray Luca Crime Story suit" during the shooting, and prosecutors later found a Polaroid photo of Davis in that suit, according to the filing.

"While the book is salacious, prone to hyperbole, has inaccuracies, and at least one substantial lie, the book generally described the provable life of Defendant, Duane ‘Keffe D' Davis," the filing states.

By contrast, the defense will point to the parts of the book that are provably false, in an attempt to discredit it, explained David Roger, the former Clark County, Nevada, district attorney.

"It really is going to revolve around the truthful and untruthful statements in the book," he said.

Prosecutors will have to overcome a few key hurdles in their case. It's been nearly 30 years since Tupac's death, so some witnesses have died and others may not remember precise details.

"Fading memories will be the enemy of this prosecution," Coates said.

Several potential witnesses may have credibility issues, too. Suge Knight, who was shot and wounded in the attack, has had his own legal troubles and is serving a 28-year prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run. He is listed on the prosecution's witness list, but he previously told TMZ he would not testify in the trial.

"The theme of this entire trial is, ‘Who can you believe?'" Coates said. "That answer is not easy and it's not obvious."

It's not clear if Davis will testify. Yet he offered a preview of his defense during his 2023 arrest.

"I ain't worried about it," he said, according to police body-camera video. "I didn't do sh*t."

[The Predator]

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is charged with murder in Shakur's 1996 killing and faces life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors are accusing Davis of coordinating the killing.

According to The Associated Press, Davis' 2008 interview to law enforcement was used in former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading's book "Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations." Portions of the recording were also played in documentaries, including the recent documentary "Sean Combs: The Reckoning."

----------------



Jury selection...

Eclectic group gathers for start of trial over Tupac Shakur slaying

(Las Vegas Review-Journal)

An eclectic group of people gathered at the Regional Justice Center on Monday as the murder trial of a man accused of orchestrating the slaying of rapper Tupac Shakur began with jury selection.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is now on trial in connection with the death of Shakur, who was 25 when he was shot near the Strip in September 1996.

Prosecutors have said Davis' public statements drove a renewed effort to investigate the case. In a memoir that he has since disputed writing, Davis described "tossing" a gun into the back seat of the Cadillac in which he was riding, allowing another man to commit the shooting.

The trial's first day attracted people who described themselves as fans, podcasters and Shakur's relatives. There also were journalists from local and national news organizations.

William Lesane, who said he was as a cousin of Shakur's, told reporters he saw the trial as a culmination of "30 years of trauma, anger, depression, sadness, grief, mourning."

"I'm open to learning new information, seeing if there was other people involved and it was a deeper, deeper conspiracy," he said.

Davis has told reporters he was actually not in Las Vegas at the time of the shooting, despite his previous statements.

"I think his alibi is a desperate attempt to evade justice, and I don't blame him," Lesane said. "I would probably do the same thing if I was in his shoes, if I said I was there and then get arrested and find out: I'm 63 years old, I'm facing life in jail."

Prosecutors have said Davis was the "shot-caller" who came up with the plan to exact revenge on the rapper and Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight in retaliation for an attack by Shakur and his entourage against Davis' nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night at the MGM Grand.

Knight's head was grazed by a bullet in the shooting.

Prosecutors floated Knight, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Gov. Joe Lombardo and Davis' purported co-author Yusuf Jah as potential witnesses Monday.

During the first day of jury selection, multiple potential jurors told District Judge Carli Kierny about hardships or beliefs that would make it difficult to serve.

One woman said she was caring for a child with special needs. Another said she was a full-time online student. A man told the judge that his parents had been the victim of an armed robbery at the hands of two Black people, making him potentially biased against Davis based on race and gun violence.

In the afternoon, potential jurors returned to the courtroom one at a time for in-depth questioning.

Despite concerns about the publicity surrounding the case, some said they knew little about Shakur.

"I don't even know what he looks like," said one woman.

"I mostly listen to country," another told the judge.

Others were more familiar.

A man told attorneys he had listened to Shakur when he was younger and was aware of speculation about who might have been involved in the rapper's death.

"I honestly was surprised that's what this was because it was so long ago," he said.

But he promised that he would be able to set aside what he had heard previously and focus on the evidence.

Some spectators made long journeys to attend the trial.

Jirah Devin, who came from Florida with his wife, said Shakur was a major influence in his life, but he indicated that he was not convinced of Davis' guilt.

"I don't think Keffe did it," he said. "I think he's really a fall guy to buy some time and cause confusion."

Asked what he thinks happened to Shakur, he said, "I believe that there's a possibility that he could still be here, but either way, he's here. Nobody's dead until the last man speaks their name."

[The Predator]

A newly surfaced jail phone call involving Duane "Keefe D" Davis has become one of the biggest developments ahead of the long-awaited Tupac Shakur murder trial.

In this exclusive audio, Keefe D discusses the memoir at the center of the prosecution's case and makes statements that prosecutors may argue contradict his public defense. The recording also touches on key figures connected to the investigation and could become an important piece of evidence as the trial unfolds.

Listen to the full leaked call and hear every word for yourself.

What do you think? Could this recording have an impact on the jury?

---------

Tony Yayo returns to VladTV for a wide-ranging conversation with DJ Vlad as the Duane "Keefe D" Davis murder trial begins in Nevada. The G-Unit rapper reacts to Keefe D reportedly rejecting a 10-to-25-year plea deal in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, arguing that facing trial at 63 with a public defender could lead to a life sentence. Yayo compares the importance of elite defense attorneys like Brian Steel to high-profile cases involving Young Thug and Lil Durk, while Vlad explains how Keefe D's book, past interviews, and alleged proffer statements may factor into the Las Vegas case.

The discussion also touches on LAPD investigator Greg Kading, Orlando Anderson, the Vegas Strip shooting after the Mike Tyson fight, and why media interviews have become key evidence in modern criminal trials.

--------------

[JeremyM]

Wish I didn't see that photo from before the autopsy. The other one was black and white and grainy, so it gave some distance. Hate seeing him like that.

[The Predator]

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur's murder, this documentary reconstructs his final hours minute by minute, examines the police investigation, and explores the rival theories, unanswered questions and enduring mystery behind one of music's most infamous and controversial unsolved killings.

Today's documentary is about the most famous rapper in the world: 2Pac Shakur.

-----------

Suge Knight Wants to Be Left Out of 2Pac's Murder Trial: ‘I Don't Get Paid to Solve Homicides'



Jury selection for Duane "Keffe D" Davis' trial in the rapper's killing kicked off in Las Vegas on Aug. 10.

Nearly 30 years after 2Pac was shot and killed in Las Vegas, the rap icon's murder trial kicked off with jury selection taking place on Monday (Aug. 10), as Duane "Keffe D" Davis faces a murder charge following his 2023 arrest.



Suge Knight has never cooperated with authorities regarding Pac's murder, and has no plans to be part of the trial three decades later. "I don't get paid to solve homicides," the 61-year-old told ABC News.

Knight continued: "They make me come there against my will. If Keffe D's lawyers bring me there, it don't look good for him. If the prosecution brings me there, it don't look good for them. Leave me out of it ... You have people who wasn't there, wasn't in the car, but they're telling the story."

Even though it's been nearly 30 years since Shakur's killing, Suge Knight asserted, "There's not a day that goes by that , personally, [don't] think about 2Pac, or I miss 2Pac. That's my brother."

Knight claimed that taking the stand would be worse than "shooting" a man in the head because "if you snitch on that person, they die a million times."

"I am not going to be responsible for sending another man to prison for the rest of his life," he added. "If God's forgiving, who am I to think I'm bigger than God and don't forgive? Because I'm not."

Suge Knight is currently locked up in California and serving a 28-year sentence after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter for a fatal 2015 hit-and-run.

Prosecutors allege that while Duane "Keffe D" Davis wasn't the triggerman in Pac's death, they believe he orchestrated the 1996 attack against the West Coast rapper. Knight was injured in the shooting, but Pac was struck four times and succumbed to his wounds six days later on Sept. 13.

Davis, 63, pleaded not guilty following his 2023 arrest, and the former Crips gang leader has maintained his innocence, claiming he wasn't even in the state of Nevada at the time of 2Pac's shooting.

-------------

Suge Knight Tells The Truth About Tupac's Murder On TMZ Live

---------------

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was killed, the trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis began in Las Vegas. Davis, who has pleaded not guilty, is the only person ever charged in the rapper's murder.

---------------

The man accused of planning the murder of Tupac Shakur is set to stand trial as prosecutors look to prove Duane "Keefe D" Davis orchestrated the drive-by shooting that killed the hip-hop legend nearly 30 years ago. Davis has spent years talking about his involvement in the case, saying he was inside the Cadillac with the gunman when shots were fired from the backseat near the Las Vegas strip. NBC's Chloe Melas reports and senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett joins TODAY with analysis.

-------------

Diddy's Name Emerges in Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Witness List as Duane Keith 'Keffe D' Davis Faces Court



Diddy's Connections to Tupac's Murder Resurface Amidst Expanding Witness List

By Nica Marie Virtudazo

The supplemental witness list for the upcoming Duane Keith 'Keffe D' Davis trial reportedly includes individuals connected to Sean 'Diddy' Combs, bringing his name into the spotlight over the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur Nicolas Richoffer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The impending proceedings for Duane Keith 'Keffe D' Davis could bring renewed attention to Sean 'Diddy' Combs, as several people connected to him were reportedly named as potential witnesses in the trial over the 1996 fatal shooting of Tupac Shakur. The unexpected development pulls the name of the embattled producer back into the legal spotlight, with jury selection reportedly beginning on August 10.

To recall, the 56-year-old producer is currently serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution. His legal troubles followed his highly publicised 2024 arrest. While the acclaimed recording artist recently went viral for his wild supply of baby oil, his legal issues and life in custody have continued to attract public attention.

He was notably acquitted of more serious charges like racketeering and sex trafficking. The latest reports regarding his custody highlight alleged prison fights, painting a grim picture of his current reality. However, his long-rumoured connections to Tupac's murder are receiving renewed attention because of the witness list and the upcoming trial.

Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Witness List Expanded

According to reports, a supplemental witness list for the forthcoming trial includes more than 200 potential witnesses. The list reportedly includes several people connected to Combs and the wider history surrounding the artists involved.

The size of the list reflects the broad range of potential witnesses, while Combs' name appears in the story through people associated with him and through past allegations. IBTimes UK cannot independently verify these claims, so take everything lightly.

Diddy Associates Named in the Murder Trial

The source identifies former Combs bodyguard Eugene 'Gene' Deal, Death Row Records cofounder Marion 'Suge' Knight, and Tupac's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, among the names connected to the supplemental witness list.

Separately, it revisits a 2003 allegation by Bad Boy founder Kirk Burrowes that Combs orchestrated Tupac's murder. Burrowes' historic claim has long been a subject of fierce debate, lingering in the background of Combs' otherwise glittering career.

If Burrowes actually appears as a witness and repeats those specific allegations under oath on the witness stand, the cultural fallout could be absolutely mad. It is one thing to hear these stories on internet forums or in magazines, but bringing them into a sworn legal setting changes the temperature entirely.

High Stakes for Everyone in Tupac Trial

Although Combs is not the man facing a jury for the death of Tupac, the overlapping histories are completely impossible to ignore. His sprawling legacy of countless hits has already been thoroughly dissected in the Peacock documentary Diddy The Making Of A Bad Boy, but documentary conjecture is entirely different from sworn testimony.

The inclusion of people connected to Combs could keep his name in the public discussion as the proceedings unfold. The tragic death of Tupac continues to be part of the pop culture landscape, and the Davis case could bring renewed courtroom attention to allegations that have circulated for years. The stakes for everyone involved remain extraordinarily high, and smart money says the public will be watching every single twist and turn.

Diddy Remains in Custody During Court Proceedings

For now, it remains unclear whether Combs could participate in the proceedings or testify. He is not the defendant in the Tupac case, and the supplied report does not establish that he will appear in court.

He will seemingly be following the updates from prison, waiting to see how testimonies might further complicate his ongoing legal issues. As the trial date steadily approaches, the music industry holds its collective breath.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cjFTslHyuhc

 

--------------

Duane "Keffe D" Davis appeared in court on Monday on the first day of jury selection in his highly publicized murder case of rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis is accused of orchestrating the rapper's murder and providing the gun in 1996. Davis told the judge that he wanted her to determine his sentencing if he is convicted, not the jury.

^ A first smart move, if the jury convicts him they likely to throw the book at him too with the sentencing, judge might be more professional and chill.

I dont know if Keefe D realises that some jurors might be thinking of collecting a bag or two after the case as it's high profile and involves show-biz, they would need to find him guilty/case solved so they could cash in and collect max amounts.
If that's the case expect juror interviews with Vlad and co, gettin paid just as Keefe D was.

If it is 'case solved'...expect a flurry of mainstream docs, shows/series, maybe even a Pac murder movie or two...as music bio films are popular right now and make a ton of cash, a more ambitious and a proper shot @ a Pac movie could be in the works too...good timing and buzz for Snoop's own biopic as it will most likely have Pac featured and will be playing on the big screen next summer.
Pac related merchandise and music streams/sales might get a bump this month as the case is getting mainstream and online attention (All Eyez On Me!)...maybe a real boost if guilty verdict.

If the law is slick, they will tie in and tangle Puff Baddy into it somehow...Coomb's is a slippery eel though.

I wonder how many ''dayums'' O.G. Keefe-D will drop during the case.