A former street gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur went on trial in Las Vegas on Monday, nearly 30 years after the rapper's death.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is charged with murder using a deadly weapon in Nevada's Clark County. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Binu Palal told jurors during opening statements that Davis organized the shooting as revenge for the beating of his nephew at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.
"You will learn that when the opportunity presented itself for retribution, Duane Davis made sure that the shooters were armed and ready to execute their plan. And remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself," Palal said.
Defense lawyer Michael Sandt argued that investigators still have little evidence to prove the case after three decades. He said Davis had a habit of talking "bullshit" and that statements he made in interviews and his book could not be corroborated.
"Just look at the actual facts. What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of his interviews or the book?" Sandt told jurors.
Authorities have described Davis as the "shot caller" behind a plot to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of the rapper's entourage. The confrontation involved members of two Los Angeles-area street gangs, the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which police said was associated with Marion "Suge" Knight and Death Row Records.
Davis allegedly obtained the murder weapon and handed it to another man as they drove around Las Vegas looking for Knight and Shakur's vehicle.
When they caught up with the car, shots were fired. Shakur was struck four times and died in hospital six days later at the age of 25. Knight, who was driving, suffered a minor injury from a bullet fragment.
The investigation remained unsolved for years. Police said the case was revived after Davis made public statements about his involvement in 2018 and later described the shooting in his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend."
Davis said he was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and handed the gun to one of two men sitting behind him, according to police. Investigators have not identified who fired the shots.
The three other men in the Cadillac have since died.
Under Nevada law, Davis can be charged with murder if he participated in the crime without personally pulling the trigger.
The trial before Judge Carli Kierny is expected to last up to six weeks. The jury was selected last week.
The case may include testimony from Knight, who was with Shakur on the night of the shooting and is serving a 28-year prison sentence for an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.
Shakur's killing became a defining moment in hip-hop history, intensifying the perception of violence surrounding the genre during the height of the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry.
Davis has also said he was a suspect in the killing of rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., who was shot dead in Los Angeles in March 1997. Wallace's killing remains unsolved.
