Las Vegas Court Hears Case Against Accused Planner of Tupac Shakur Slaying
Duane “Keffe D” Davis stands trial in Nevada for his alleged role in plotting the 1996 drive-by shooting that claimed the rapper’s life.
Las Vegas Court Hears Case Against Accused Planner of Tupac Shakur Slaying
Jury selection is underway in Nevada for the long-delayed prosecution of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, whom authorities charge with plotting the September 1996 homicide of music artist Tupac Shakur. Details of the proceeding were reported by CNN Prima News.
The fatal encounter occurred on 7 September 1996, shortly after Shakur attended a boxing bout featuring Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand. The musician left the venue in a dark BMW 750iL beside Marion “Suge” Knight, founder of Death Row Records. While traveling through Las Vegas, another automobile—a pale Cadillac—drew near. Shots rang out from that car, hitting Shakur, who was then 25. Medical staff fought to save him for nearly a week before he passed away from his wounds.
State lawyers do not contend that Davis fired any rounds. Rather, they assert he arranged the ambush, directed the killing, and obtained the firearm. Investigators tie the motive to a physical altercation hours earlier inside the casino. There, Shakur and his entourage reportedly confronted Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, a South Side Compton Crips affiliate and Davis’s nephew. The dispute was said to be payback for a prior beating of a Death Row worker.
Despite the notoriety of the crime, Davis faced no indictment for decades. That changed in 2023, following interviews in which he discussed the episode. In a self-published account from 2019, he placed himself in the Cadillac’s front seat and described passing a handgun to rear passengers, while declining to name the shooter. He has since disowned those remarks, insisting he never reviewed the manuscript and that its ghostwriter sensationalized his comments to drive purchases. Through counsel and media, he maintains he played no part in the violence.
Every other individual believed to have occupied the Cadillac that evening is now deceased, leaving little prospect that the proceedings will establish the identity of the gunman. Testimony is anticipated to span around four weeks.
Parallel to the criminal matter, Shakur’s stepbrother Maurice initiated a civil claim for wrongful death this past May. That filing cites a televised investigation in which Davis allegedly told investigators that Sean “Diddy” Combs had promised one million dollars to eliminate Shakur. Combs—currently held in detention on separate accusations—has repudiated the claim.
The killing unfolded during the peak of the coastal rap rivalry that pitted Los Angeles imprint Death Row against New York’s Bad Boy Records, the latter co-founded by Combs and representing performer Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace. Wallace himself fell to an unresolved shooting six months afterward, in March 1997.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)