Almost 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, the long-running investigation has reached a courtroom, with the only person charged in the case now facing a jury.
Duane «Keffe D» Davis, a former South Side Compton Crips leader, appeared in Clark County District Court on Monday as prosecutors accused him of helping arrange the attack that killed Shakur in September 1996.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon, intending to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. A conviction could result in life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The proceedings are expected to continue for several weeks. Prosecutors are preparing to call witnesses connected to the shooting, Shakur’s entourage and the investigation, with Judge Carli Kierny overseeing the trial.
Prosecutors link shooting to confrontation at MGM Grand
Tupac murder trial starts Monday, nearly 30 years after unsolved shooting
— RTVisual (@RT_Visual_on_X) August 7, 2026
Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, charged with orchestrating the killing, will finally stand trial as many hope new details reveal what really happened
Footage appears to show Davis admitting involvement —… pic.twitter.com/tRwvun09Sc
Shakur was travelling in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion «Suge» Knight after watching a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996.
As the vehicle moved along the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac came alongside it, and gunfire erupted. Shakur suffered gunshot wounds and died from his injuries six days later at 25.
According to prosecutors, the shooting came after an earlier fight inside the MGM Grand involving Shakur and Orlando «Baby Lane» Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the Crips.
The state has tied the incident to the rivalry between groups associated with Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records that dominated hip-hop at the time.
Prosecutors allege Davis was travelling in the Cadillac alongside three other men. They do not claim he fired the shots himself, instead arguing that he played a role in arranging the attack and obtained the gun used in the killing.
Anderson became one of the people investigated in connection with Shakur’s death but was never charged. He was killed in an unrelated shooting in Compton in 1998.
Davis’ memoir and interviews form a key part of the case
Much of the prosecution’s evidence stems from comments Davis made years after the shooting rather than from the original investigation.
In his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, Davis wrote about the circumstances surrounding Shakur’s killing. Prosecutors contend that parts of the book place him inside the Cadillac and indicate that he was involved in obtaining the weapon.
A Nevada judge ruled in June that prosecutors could introduce the memoir at trial after Davis’ lawyers sought to exclude it.
The court also ruled in July that prosecutors could present a recording of a 2008 police interview with Davis. His defence had argued that the conversation was supposed to remain confidential, while prosecutors disputed that claim and maintained that his statements could be used as evidence.
Davis’ numerous public remarks about the shooting have also kept the case in the spotlight and contributed to renewed attention to an investigation that had produced no arrest for decades.
A jailhouse call made shortly before the trial has created another issue for the defence. Prosecutors intend to use Davis’ acknowledgement that he wrote the memoir to challenge previous suggestions that somebody else was responsible for producing the book.
Defence questions whether Davis can be tied to the killing
Davis’ lawyers are expected to challenge the prosecution’s interpretation of his earlier statements and argue that they do not prove he ordered or directed Shakur’s murder.
The defence has pointed to a lack of direct evidence that Davis instructed anyone to shoot Shakur. His lawyers are also expected to question the reliability of accounts given years after the incident, particularly by people who did not witness the shooting itself.
Davis has previously denied being the person who shot Shakur. In an interview before the trial, he said he knew who was responsible while rejecting the allegation that he carried out the killing himself.
Prosecutors do not necessarily have to prove that Davis pulled the trigger. Their case depends on establishing that he knowingly took part in the murder and was therefore legally responsible for it.
The state is expected to call witnesses who can discuss Davis, the confrontation at the MGM Grand and statements he later made about the shooting.
Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and Knight have been listed among potential witnesses. Knight was in the BMW with Shakur when the shooting occurred, although he has previously indicated that he does not plan to testify.
Decades-old investigation finally reaches trial
Shakur’s death became one of the most closely followed unsolved killings in music history. The case unfolded during a period of escalating tensions between prominent figures and rival organisations in hip-hop.
Six months after Shakur died, Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., was also killed in Los Angeles. His death remains unsolved and has often been discussed alongside Shakur’s murder because of the wider rivalry between the artists and their circles. Authorities have not formally resolved the two killings as a single case.
For years, no one was prosecuted over Shakur’s death. The investigation gained new momentum after Davis began discussing the shooting publicly and released his memoir.
Police arrested him in September 2023 following a search of a property in the Las Vegas area. He has remained in custody while lawyers and prosecutors worked through a series of pretrial proceedings.
The trial will now test whether Davis’ statements and the other evidence can convince jurors that he had a sufficiently direct role in the events to make him criminally responsible for Shakur’s death.
The proceedings could run for as long as six weeks, bringing a case that remained unresolved for nearly three decades to one of its most significant stages.
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