Jury selection will begin Monday in the case concerning the killing of U.S. rapper Tupac Shakur, and the process is expected to last about a week. The only person charged in connection with the murder, 63-year-old Duane Keith Davis, denies the charges.
Davis is accused of committing murder with a deadly weapon and in support of a criminal gang. Nevada law can hold a person criminally responsible for knowingly assisting a crime even if that person did not carry out the final act. If convicted, Davis could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors’ account of the attack
Prosecutors argue that Davis was not the shooter but organized the retaliatory attack. They allege that Davis obtained the gun and gave it to the person in the back seat of the vehicle used in the attack.
Prosecutors allege that the attack was revenge for a fight at the MGM Grand earlier that night. Hotel surveillance footage shows Shakur, Marion “Suge” Knight and others accompanying him attacking Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, near the casino elevators.
Anderson was associated with the South Side Compton Crips. Knight and people around Death Row Records were associated with the rival Mob Piru Bloods.
Prosecutors allege that after providing the gun, Davis got into the Cadillac with Anderson, Deandrae Smith and Terrence Brown to look for Shakur and Knight. Early in the investigation, Anderson was believed to be the shooter, but grand jury testimony identified Smith as the person who used the gun.
Anderson denied the accusation and was never charged. He was killed in a gang-related shootout in Compton in 1998. Police said the incident was not connected to Shakur’s murder.
Shakur’s killing
Shakur, one of the most influential figures in the hip-hop world of the 1990s, watched the heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996.
Shakur left the hotel in a black BMW driven by Knight, one of the co-founders of Death Row Records. At about 11:15 p.m. near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled alongside the BMW and someone inside opened fire.
Shakur was struck by four bullets and died at a hospital six days after the attack at the age of 25. Knight was injured but survived. The gun used in the murder and the white Cadillac have never been found.
Key evidence in the case
A significant part of the prosecution’s case is expected to consist of Davis’ own accounts of the murder. Davis discussed the killing in police interviews, documentaries, media programs and his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
In the book, Davis wrote that he was inside the Cadillac, had obtained the gun and handed it to the person in the back seat, but he did not identify the shooter. Other evidence from prosecutors includes hotel surveillance footage indicating a possible motive for the attack, statements from gang members and items seized during a 2023 search of Davis’ wife’s home.
A Nevada judge ruled that Davis’ memoir and a 2008 police interview in which he discussed the murder could be used at trial. Knight is also on the prosecution’s potential witness list as the only other eyewitness identified as having survived the attack.
Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California in a separate case involving a fatal traffic accident. He previously said he would not testify in Davis’ case.
Defense objections
Davis’ lawyers argue that their client is innocent and was not in Las Vegas when Shakur was shot. The defense says Davis fabricated or exaggerated his accounts to attract public attention and make money from media appearances and his book.
The lawyers are also expected to emphasize that there is no publicly disclosed forensic evidence placing Davis at the scene and that other physical evidence is insufficient.
The defense previously sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that a cooperation agreement prevented some of Davis’ past statements from being used against him. The judge rejected the request, ruling that the agreement did not show that Davis had immunity from prosecution.
Investigation turns into a case after 30 years
Investigators identified some people connected to the attack early on but struggled to gather sufficient admissible evidence to bring charges. Witnesses were unwilling to cooperate, and neither the gun used in the murder nor the vehicle was found.
The deaths in later years of Anderson, Smith and Brown, as well as other potential witnesses, affected the investigation. Davis spoke with investigators in 2008 under a cooperation agreement, prompting a legal dispute over whether those statements could be used against him.
The case gained momentum after Davis repeated his account of the murder in interviews and his memoir. Police searched the home of Davis’ wife in Henderson, Nevada, in July 2023. Davis was arrested two months later.
The defense argues that the delay harmed Davis’ right to a fair trial because witnesses died and evidence disappeared. The judge ruled, however, that there was no evidence prosecutors had intentionally delayed the case to gain an advantage.
Importance of the case for the hip-hop world
Shakur was killed during the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry between Death Row Records and New York-based Bad Boy Records. The prosecution’s case, however, focuses less on the broader music rivalry than on the alleged gang retaliation for Anderson’s beating.
The jury will decide whether Davis’ statements, witness testimony and circumstantial evidence prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was responsible.
A conviction may not definitively establish who fired the fatal shots. Instead, it could result in a finding that Davis knowingly organized or assisted the attack.
