Opening statements begin in Tupac Shakur murder trial in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, United States. Opening statements are due to begin on Monday in the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, accused of masterminding the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed hip-hop star Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder using a deadly weapon in Clark County, Nevada.

Trial proceedings

The trial before Judge Carli Kierny is expected to last up to six weeks at a downtown Las Vegas courthouse. A jury was selected last week.

The proceedings may include testimony from Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was with Shakur on the night of the shooting. Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence on an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Allegations over the shooting

Authorities allege Davis led a group of men who sought to kill Shakur, then 25, following a fight inside the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.

Police have described Davis as the “shot caller” in a plot to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of his entourage.

The confrontation allegedly arose from hostility between the South Side Compton Crips, a Los Angeles-area street gang of which Davis described himself as a leader, and Mob Piru, which police said was associated with Knight and Death Row Records. The groups were in Las Vegas for the world heavyweight title boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon.

Prosecutors allege Davis obtained the murder weapon and handed it to two men in the back seat of a white Cadillac as the group searched for Knight and Shakur’s vehicle after the casino brawl.

Shots were fired after the Cadillac caught up with the vehicle carrying Knight and Shakur near the Las Vegas Strip. Shakur was struck four times and died in hospital six days later. Knight, who was driving, suffered a minor injury when a bullet fragment grazed his head.

Long-running investigation

The killing remained unsolved for years and became a defining moment in rap history, intensifying perceptions of violence associated with hip-hop during the era of the East Coast-West Coast rap feud.

Police said following Davis’ arrest in 2023 that he had long been a suspect, but investigators had lacked sufficient admissible evidence to bring charges. They said public statements Davis made to media outlets in 2018 about his involvement in the shooting renewed the investigation.