Duane “Keffe D” Davis allegedly ordered the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur in retaliation for an attack on his nephew, prosecutors have claimed, as his long-awaited murder trial begins in Las Vegas.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder and denies orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac, who was shot on September 7, 1996 and died six days later aged 25.
During opening statements on August 17, Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal acknowledged that Davis is not accused of firing the fatal shots.
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors.
LVMPDMugshot of Keffe D
Prosecutors allege Davis sought revenge after Shakur and others attacked his nephew, Orlando Anderson, at a Las Vegas casino hours before the shooting.
They claim Davis later obtained a gun and was riding in a white Cadillac when the group spotted Shakur travelling with Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight. Davis allegedly passed the weapon to Anderson before shots were fired into Shakur’s car.
The prosecution is also relying on statements Davis made publicly about the killing, including in his 2019 memoir, where he claimed to have been inside the Cadillac.
His defense argues those accounts were fictionalized and has attacked the decades-long investigation as “biased, sloppy and incomplete.”
Witness Ingrid Stokes also recalled being near Shakur’s convoy shortly before the shooting.
“We were head down, taking our seat belts off, when we heard the gunshots,” she testified. “All hell broke loose.”
The trial is expected to continue for several weeks, with investigators, experts and potentially celebrity witnesses due to testify.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
