The trial concerning the killing of Tupac Shakur has begun, with jurors hearing testimony about how “all hell broke loose” during the night the rapper was shot.
Former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis is standing trial accused of murdering Shakur in September 1996.
Shakur was shot on September 7 after another vehicle pulled alongside the car carrying him and someone opened fire. He had been travelling from a Mike Tyson boxing match and died from his wounds six days afterward.
Prosecutors do not claim that Davis personally fired the weapon. Instead, they allege that he organised the attack following an earlier confrontation involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson.
Davis has rejected the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During the trial’s first day, prosecutors portrayed Davis as the person directing the group accused of carrying out the shooting. They also pointed to an account of the incident included in a memoir he helped write.
“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,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors, according to BBC News. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.”
In the memoir, released in 2019, Davis said he had been riding in the vehicle from which the shots were fired. He also claimed that he handed the weapon used in the attack to Anderson, who then shot Shakur.
Lawyers representing Davis dismissed those statements as “fiction” and argued that the case resulted from a “biased, sloppy and incomplete” police inquiry spanning nearly 30 years. Davis has also separated himself from the book, maintaining that certain passages were invented to increase its commercial appeal.
Prosecutors called Garry Dale, a former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer who served during the period of Shakur’s death. Dale testified that he travelled in the ambulance with the wounded musician and recalled that Shakur would not provide information about what had happened or identify anyone involved.
The defence maintained that prosecutors had built their case around “unreliable people with criminal records, financial motivations and inconsistent statements”. Davis’ lawyers also argued that several witnesses had altered their accounts as time passed.
Ingrid Stokes also gave evidence during the opening proceedings. She reportedly encountered Shakur and Death Row Records cofounder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was driving the car carrying the rapper when the shooting occurred, earlier that night.
Stokes testified that she and a friend attempted to follow Shakur’s vehicle because they hoped to visit the same nightclub. During the drive, however, they reportedly became aware of “a car behind us, trying to get in front of us”.
She said they reached a traffic light and pulled aside because the vehicle behind them had caused concern. They then “heard the gunshots” while they had their “head[s] down, taking our seat belts off”.
According to Stokes, “all hell broke loose” immediately afterward.
Opening arguments took place yesterday, Monday August 17, with the proceedings expected to carry on for several more weeks.
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