Prosecutors opened Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ murder trial Monday, alleging he helped plan the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur as retaliation for a fight involving Davis’ nephew.
Davis, 63, is charged with murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis did not fire the shots but helped organize the attack after Shakur’s entourage assaulted Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson outside a boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996.
Palal said Davis spent the following hours planning a response before Shakur was shot in a drive-by attack.
Prosecutors are relying in part on statements Davis made to investigators over the years.
In a 2008 interview with a federal task force investigating the killing of rapper The Notorious B.I.G., Davis spoke about Shakur’s death. He described giving a gun to men in the back seat of a white Cadillac, which then pulled alongside a black BMW carrying Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight.
Shakur was 25 when he was shot. He died six days later.
Palal played audio of Davis describing the shooting as members of Shakur’s family, including his stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, listened in court.
The prosecutor said Davis acknowledged being in Las Vegas when Shakur was killed during interviews with federal investigators in 1998 and 1999. Palal also said Davis admitted his role in a 2009 interview with Las Vegas police.
Davis’ defense lawyer rejected the prosecution’s account in opening arguments, calling it “fiction.”
The trial is taking place nearly 30 years after Shakur’s death, which made him one of hip-hop’s most influential artists.
