The trial of a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of rap star Tupac Shakur has begun in Las Vegas. The trial began with testimony from a witness at the scene and a former police officer.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis is charged with murder for his role in the assassination of Shakur, who died after being shot from a moving car. Prosecutors allege that Davis was the “field commander of the attempt to kill Tupac.”
Davis has pleaded not guilty, although he admitted to his role in the shooting in a 2019 confession that authorities have called key to the case against the 63-year-old. He is the only surviving witness from the car that fired shots at Shakur.
A jury of 6 men and 10 women was selected last week for the trial, which is expected to last about 1 month.
Davis entered the courtroom wearing a blue suit and tie and took a quick look around the audience to see who was there before sitting next to his attorney, Michael Sanft.
Members of Shakur's family, including his half-brother, Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, stood silently in the front row of the courtroom, behind prosecutors.
Binu Palal, the deputy district attorney, showed the jury a photo of a fight with Mike Tyson dated "September 7, 1996" and a video of Shakur's associates attacking Davis' nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson. Shakur's murder occurred after that altercation.
"Let's be clear, Duane Davis didn't pull the trigger. But he planned the shootings in retaliation for the beating of his nephew," Palal said. "Surprisingly, you'll learn this from Duane Davis himself."
Palal showed several video clips and an audio of Davis describing his role in the incident and his anger at Shakur for attacking his nephew.
While the defense attorney said that after 30 years, investigators still have very little evidence to prove their case. “At the end of the day you have to ask yourself, is what they are saying true or fiction?” he told the jury.
The lawyer argued that various law enforcement agencies over the years, including the FBI, did not pursue the case because they did not believe what he had said was credible.
The trial is a major development in the case that had remained unresolved for decades.
On September 7, 1996, the rap icon was attacked near the Las Vegas Strip while on his way to a party. As he was driving, a Cadillac pulled up next to Shakur's car and shot him eight times. Shakur was hospitalized for his injuries and died a few days later.
Shakur's murder sparked countless conspiracy theories, as well as books and documentaries seeking to determine who was responsible for his death. But a fuller picture of what may have happened that night has emerged in recent years, as Davis, who was the last surviving passenger in the Cadillac, began to speak out publicly.
Earlier in the evening, Shakur had watched a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and then became involved in a physical confrontation with Davis' nephew and several others.
Davis sought revenge and allegedly obtained a gun with the intention of "stalking" Shakur.
"No words were exchanged, the time to talk was over, it was all over! Tupac made a jerky movement and started to lie down under his seat. It was the first and only time in my life that I could understand the police order: 'Keep your hands where I can see them.' Instead, Pac pulled out a belt and that's when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started to fight back," he confessed.
Prosecutors have said that Davis's tell-all book and public statements ultimately revived the Las Vegas investigation.
"If he had decided never to write the book, he probably wouldn't have been prosecuted for the crime," prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said recently.
His lawyers sought to have the book thrown out of court, arguing that he and his co-author exaggerated it in an attempt to “falsely place themselves at the center of it all for personal gain.” A judge rejected the request.
The first witness called by prosecutors was Garry Dale, a former Las Vegas officer who stopped Shakur the night of the shooting. He said he stopped the car because it didn't have a license plate on the back and that the interaction was "nice." The officer later recounted how he rode in the ambulance with Shakur after the shooting, saying he tried to get the rapper to give the names of his attackers, but Shakur replied, "No, we'll take care of that."
The second witness for prosecutors was Ingrid Stokes, a woman who was in a car with friends near Shakur's car at the time of the shooting. Stokes' car and Shakur's car were both going to the same club, she said. "We heard the gunshots ... it was all hell," she said. Stokes added that she did not see who was in the car that shot Shakur and that she later spoke to police, who were "rude" and "treated us like suspects."
Stokes said she didn't think she had any valuable information to share with the officers and that she and her friends were afraid at the time that if they spoke to the officers they would be labeled as "spies." ©LAPSI.al
