He Wrote About Tupac's Murder. Now He's on Trial.

By Taylor Bennett. Aug 13, 2026

He Told the Story Himself

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas Strip, the man accused of orchestrating the killing is on trial - and much of the case against him comes from a story he told himself. Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, 63, described the night Tupac died in his memoir, ‘Compton Street Legend,’ and in media appearances made before his arrest. Prosecutors say those accounts amount to a confession. A jury of 10 women and six men, plus four alternates, was seated on August 13, and opening statements were scheduled for Monday.

The Man in the Backseat

Prosecutors say Davis did not fire the shots. They say he organized the attack from inside the white BMW that pulled alongside Shakur’s vehicle near Flamingo Road and Koval Lane on the night of September 7, 1996.
The man Davis allegedly recruited to fire the weapon was his own nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson. Anderson died in an unrelated shooting in 1998, which is why Davis, as the alleged organizer, is the one in the defendant’s chair three decades later.

September 7, 1996

Tupac Shakur had attended the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand the night he was shot, alongside Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight. The two were leaving when the attack occurred. Shakur was hit by gunfire and taken to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he died six days later, on September 13, 1996. He was 25.
The case went cold almost immediately. Anderson died before charges could be filed. Davis was known to investigators but not charged until September 2023, when a renewed probe, combining his own public statements with witness interviews, produced an indictment. Davis was arrested in Henderson, Nevada, and pleaded not guilty.

The Charge, and the Theory Behind It

Davis is charged with murder with a deadly weapon, with a gang enhancement under Nevada law. Under that law, a person who organizes a killing can be held as legally responsible as the person who pulls the trigger. That is the theory the prosecution is presenting. Davis has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
His defense has argued the memoir was exaggerated and the interviews were made in an entertainment context Davis never expected to be used against him. His attorneys previously tried to suppress those pre-arrest statements; the court denied the motions. The defense is expected to challenge witness reliability and argue the state cannot place Davis in the vehicle beyond a reasonable doubt.

A Question That Has Outlasted Most of Hip-Hop

The jurors, a cross-section of Las Vegas residents, are now responsible for answering a question the music world has been asking since 1996. Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur Davis, who pushed for years for accountability in her son’s death, died in 2016 and will not be in the courtroom. His family has said publicly that they want the case resolved.
Davis remains in custody. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence, and the trial is expected to last several weeks. After 30 years, a Las Vegas courtroom is either going to answer the question or leave it open one more time.

References: Tupac murder trial: The jury that will decide whether Duane Davis murdered Tupac has been seated | Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, charged with organizing the killing of Tupac Shakur, is on trial