Duane Davis murder trial opens in Las Vegas over Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing
Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented sharply different accounts as Duane “Keffe D” Davis went on trial on August 17, 2026, accused of helping orchestrate the drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur.
In short
- Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented sharply different accounts as Duane “Keffe D” Davis went on trial on August 17, 2026, accused of helping orchestrate the drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur.
The murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis opened in Las Vegas on Monday, August 17, 2026, nearly 30 years after rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in a drive-by attack.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder. Prosecutors say he helped plan the September 7, 1996, shooting in retaliation for an earlier confrontation at the MGM Grand hotel involving Shakur’s entourage and Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson. The state does not allege that Davis fired the shots; it argues that he organized the group that pursued Shakur after a Mike Tyson boxing match.
In opening statements, prosecutors told jurors that Davis’s own public accounts of the night would be central to their case. They played recordings and showed material connected to statements he made over the years, including a 2019 memoir in which he discussed the shooting. Davis’s lawyers say those accounts were unreliable and exaggerated, and argue that investigators still lack evidence strong enough to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
The first witnesses included a former Las Vegas police officer who stopped the vehicle carrying Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight before the shooting. Another witness, who was traveling in a nearby car, described hearing gunfire but said she could not identify who was inside the attackers’ vehicle.
Shakur was struck when a Cadillac pulled alongside the vehicle carrying him near the Las Vegas Strip. He died from his injuries several days later at age 25. The killing remained one of the most prominent unresolved cases in music history for decades, prompting extensive public speculation.
Authorities revived their investigation after Davis spoke publicly about the attack. Prosecutors characterize him as the only surviving person who was inside the Cadillac. His defense maintains that his public statements do not amount to reliable proof of criminal responsibility.
A jury of six men and 10 women was selected before testimony began. The trial is expected to last about a month. The proceedings will determine whether prosecutors can turn Davis’s accounts and the surviving witness record into a murder conviction three decades after the crime.
