Trial of former gang leader to begin over Tupac Shakur murder

Trial of former gang leader to begin over Tupac Shakur murder

A trial begins Monday, August 10, 2026, in Las Vegas to determine if a former gang leader orchestrated the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Duane Keffe D Davis, 63, faces one charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.

The proceedings will take place at the Clark County District Court under Judge Carli Kierny. Jury selection is expected to take a few days to a week, and the full trial is scheduled to last approximately one month. Because of high public interest, seats in the courtroom will be distributed via a daily lottery, though a live feed will be available to the public in a second-floor room.

Prosecutors do not intend to argue that Davis pulled the trigger, and the trial is unlikely to definitively identify the shooter. Instead, the state aims to prove that Davis ordered the killing and provided the handgun used in the drive-by shooting.

The case centers on the events of September 7, 1996. Shakur, who also performed as 2Pac and Makaveli, was in the passenger seat of a black BMW driven by music mogul Marion Suge Knight. They were traveling to Club 662, where Shakur was scheduled to perform, when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later; Knight survived.

The investigation remained cold for decades until 2019, when Davis published a memoir titled Compton Street Legends. In the book, Davis recounted being in the front seat of the Cadillac and tossing a handgun, obtained from an associate, into the back seat. These revelations, alongside previous remarks to reporters, led to his arrest in September 2023.

Davis has since pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. In a March last year interview with ABC News from prison, Davis stated,

"I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody. Never did ever kill nobody,"

Duane Davis, via ABC News

Davis claims his co-author inflated the details of the memoir to increase book sales and that he never actually read the final text. His defense attorney, Michael Sanft, intends to call a small number of witnesses, including an expert on coercive interrogation and false confessions.

The trial will revisit a violent hip-hop rivalry between the West Coast's Death Row Records and the East Coast's Bad Boy Records. According to grand jury testimony from Denvonta Lee, a South Side Crips affiliate, the rival gangs Mob Piru and the South Side Compton Crips were tied to these labels. Knight was affiliated with Mob Piru, while Davis led the South Side Compton Crips, who served as bodyguards for Bad Boy Records.

Prosecution theory suggests the attack was motivated by revenge. Following a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand, Knight and Shakur reportedly attacked Orlando Baby Lane Anderson—Davis' nephew and a Crips member—after an alleged assault on a Death Row employee.

Of the occupants of the white Cadillac that night, only Davis remains alive. Anderson died two years after Tupac in an unrelated gang shooting in Compton, California. Two other passengers, Terry Bubble Up Brown and Deandrae Freaky Smith, have also died. Denvonta Lee testified to a grand jury that while Anderson did not have a clear shot, Smith took the gun provided by Davis and opened fire.

The state expects to call between 35 and 45 witnesses. This list includes:

• Leonard Jefferson: The California resident who took the last known photograph of Shakur that night.
• Malcolm Greenidge: A friend of Shakur who was in his entourage.
• Reggie Wright: A former Death Row Records security member.
• Oscar Goodman: The former mayor of Las Vegas.
• Expert witnesses: Former detectives, police officers, and gang experts.

Marion Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence in California for a 2015 killing and has stated he will not testify. While Sanft suggested Knight would be a beneficial witness for the defense, he remains the only living eyewitness from the vehicles involved who has not been charged in the crime.

The trial also touches upon Sean Diddy Combs, who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for prostitution-related charges. In a documentary series titled Sean Combs: The Reckoning, Davis claims in a police interview that Combs offered him $1 million to kill Shakur. Combs has strongly denied any involvement, and he does not appear on the official witness list.

Beyond the criminal trial, the family of the rapper continues to seek accountability. In May, stepbrother Maurice Shakur filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit, claiming certain individuals involved in the murder have avoided accountability for 30 years.