Tupac murder trial opens with prosecutors alleging revenge plot

The trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the only person charged in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, opened in Las Vegas with prosecutors alleging he orchestrated the drive-by shooting as an act of gang revenge. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, planned the shooting in retaliation for the beating of his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, hours earlier. "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," Palal said Source: AP News. Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with a deadly weapon and faces life in prison if convicted Source: BBC.

The prosecution's case

Prosecutors say Davis obtained a gun and handed it to men in the back seat of a white Cadillac that pulled up beside Shakur's car on September 7, 1996. They are relying heavily on Davis's own statements, including a 2008 interview with a federal task force and his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend," in which he described his role. "Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself," Palal told jurors Source: NPR. The case was revived after Davis's public statements, which prosecutors say were driven by a "visceral hatred" for Shakur Source: Euronews.

The defense's response

Davis's attorney, Michael Sanft, called the prosecution's narrative "fiction" and argued that the decades-old investigation was "biased," "sloppy," and "incomplete" Source: DW News. Sanft questioned the lack of corroboration: "What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of his interviews or the book?" Source: BBC. He also noted that Davis has distanced himself from the memoir, saying parts were fictionalized to sell copies Source: BBC.

The trial, expected to last up to six weeks, will feature testimony from witnesses including Shakur's family members and possibly Marion "Suge" Knight Source: Al Jazeera.