In court today
• The jury has begun deliberations in the trial of Tupac Shakur’s murder, which has remained unsolved for nearly three decades. Duane “Keffe D” Davis is accused of plotting the 1996 killing near the Las Vegas Strip, and he is the only person ever charged in the murder.
• In closing arguments, the prosecution argued that Davis — who they describe as the “shot caller” — and his crew “went hunting” for Shakur. Davis’ memoir, which details the shooting, should be considered an admission by Davis, despite it listing a cowriter, the prosecutor said.
• The defense said that Davis’ recounting of the shooting in his memoir was “fiction,” also focusing on missing investigative records and a lack of direct evidence.
• Davis is charged with one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of first-degree murder, he could face life in prison.
Tupac's family has been a constant presence in the courtroom
While some people sat in the courtroom for only one day to punch their ticket of pop culture curiosities, Tupac Shakur’s stepbrother Mopreme Shakur and sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur showed up every day, surrounded by family, friends and a representative of the Clark County District Attorney’s office, who carefully weaved them through a back door of the courtroom away from reporters at each break.
The family sat grim-faced and rarely physically reacted to the extensive testimony about gang violence and Tupac Shakur’s doomed trip to Las Vegas. But by the end of the first day, Set Shakur acknowledged the strain.
“It was just a whole lot,” she told CNN. “A lot of information to take in.”
During a 2017 recording between Duane Davis and documentary producers that was aired in court, he was asked whether he wanted to apologize to Shakur’s family.
Set Shakur gave an intense, narrowed glare toward Davis as the recording played in court. A minute later, she pulled a tissue from a box placed in front of her and dabbed her eyes, taking several deep breaths before she briefly left the courtroom.
The jury in the Tupac murder trial is partially sequestered. What does that mean?
Jurors is this trial are partially sequestered, which means they are heavily guarded and isolated during the day, but are free to return to their homes at the end of each day of court, up until final deliberations.
In high-profile cases, like this one, even though jurors are instructed not to look at any media reports, it can still happen, defense attorney and former prosecutor Mark Eiglarsh said.
“To the extent that they could be at least partially sequestered, it hopefully shields them from things they should not be considering. They should only be focused on the evidence and the law given,” Eiglarsh told CNN.
How the passage of nearly 30 years has shaped the murder trial
Each day of the trial has required explanations for how the world was different in 1996, a reminder for the older jurors and a remedial education for the younger ones. Cellphones — the kind used to actually talk to people rather than text and post to social media — weren’t mandatory personal equipment yet.
A key piece of evidence — a paper hotel bill showing a series of 75-cent charges for local calls — now looks like a yellowing artifact from the distant past. Surveillance video showing Tupac Shakur’s entourage leaving the MGM Grand after assaulting Duane Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson — the event prosecutors say prompted Davis to plan murderous revenge — has the telltale wavy lines of its source, an old analog videotape.
“We had to maintain a VHS player in homicide to be able to view those things,” former Las Vegas police officer Dean O’Kelley noted on the witness stand.
The passage of time is also seen in the witnesses themselves. The investigators who haven’t already died are almost all retired, some of them awkwardly testifying via Zoom with technical difficulties from homes far away. The young partier who witnessed the shooting from a passing car appears on the stand as a modestly dressed, middle-aged woman. Reggie Wright, Jr., once the feared head of security for Death Row Records, is too weakened by Long Covid to walk to the witness stand, testifying instead from his electric scooter.
Hear Tupac and Snoop Dogg speak with CNN at the 1996 MTV Video Awards
Three days before Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, he and Snoop Dogg spoke with CNN at the 1996 MTV Video Awards about music, accessories and the changing industry.
Duane Davis is "hopeful" as jury begins deliberations, attorney says
As jurors begin their deliberations, Duane Davis’ attorney told reporters his client is feeling “hopeful” about the outcome.
Attorney Michael Sanft briefly embraced Davis after closing arguments concluded Monday. Sanft laid out a nearly two-hour argument in favor of Davis.
Closing statements in the Tupac trial are done. Here are arguments from each side
After passionate arguments totaling about four hours, the prosecution and the defense have finished their closing statements in the case against Duane Davis.
The prosecution argued that while Davis’ accounts vary, they all serve his interests; the defense tried to poke holes in the varying accounts and argued his client is a liar.
PROSECUTION:
- Davis, his nephew Orlando Anderson and the rest of their crew “went hunting” for Shakur after Anderson got into a fight with Shakur and his entourage at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, prosecutor Binu Palal said.
- Davis was a “shot caller” in the Southside Compton Crips gang, Palal said, but Davis was seen in court shaking his head at the description.
- Davis’ statements are credible, it makes “no sense as a lie,” and he “is profiting off a murder” by selling his book, Palal said.
DEFENSE:
- Davis’ statements are inconsistent across the different recordings and his book, and they can’t be trusted, defense attorney Michael Sanft said. The evidence shows Davis was “telling you fiction as to how this all goes down,” he said.
- The evidence in the Shakur murder case is also incomplete, Sanft said. He points to a lack of evidence that Davis was in Las Vegas the night of the shooting and whether a fight that preceded the MGM Grand fight occurred. Sanft noted concerns from some people within the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police that the murder case file wasn’t secure.
- The defense’s closing arguments, which lasted almost two hours, were longer than their presentation of their case.
Jury begins deliberations in murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis
A Las Vegas jury has begun deliberating Monday afternoon in the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, accused of orchestrating the fatal shooting of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.
Davis is charged with one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors don’t claim he pulled the trigger — they allege he orchestrated the ambush in retaliation for an earlier assault on his nephew, Orlando Anderson.
Over 28 witnesses were called over two weeks of testimony.
Closing arguments have ended
Closing arguments in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of plotting the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, have ended.
Jurors will now convene to decide whether to convict Davis for Shakur’s murder, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Over the last four weeks, jurors have heard from 28 witnesses – 25 from the prosecution and three from the defense – who testified to the events surrounding Shakur’s death on September 7, 1996, and to Davis’ statements in the three decades following.
Jurors were told if they believe Davis’ statements about his role in the killing, prosecutors do not need to provide additional evidence tying him to the crime. The jury will decide how much weight to give those statements.
Prosector said Davis is attempting to beat jurors and escape responsibility
During Clark County District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo’s rebuttal argument, he claimed Duane Davis was attempting to “beat” the jurors and escape responsibility.
“But to suggest now there is no evidence of his guilt? The defendant said on one of those social media clips, when you watch them, he literally says: ‘I beat the streets, I beat the feds, and I beat cancer.’ And now he’s trying to beat twelve of you,” DiGiacomo said.
“Mr. Davis is attempting to escape responsibility for a crime everybody knows he committed, even him, and he admits to it.”
Prosecutor says murder case against Duane Davis is a "slam dunk"
In a rebuttal to the closing argument of Duane Davis’ defense attorney, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said there should be not be any doubt about whether Davis was being truthful when he said on several occasions that he was involved in and physically present for the murder of Tupac Shakur.
DiGiacomo said jurors should not treat their verdict as a “referendum” on whether investigators should have done a better job or prosecutors should have charged Davis earlier. DiGiacomo said, although Davis and his defense attorney, Michael Sanft, have said his book’s account of his connection to the murder wasn’t true, the defendant has not formally taken back his story.
Sanft immediately asked Judge Carli Kierny to approach the bench. The attorneys and judge spoke for about a minute off the record before DiGiacomo was allowed to continue.
Prosecutors begin rebuttal argument
Clark County District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo began his rebuttal argument after Duane Davis’ defense attorney, Michael Sanft, finished his closing argument in just under two hours.
Defense highlights line in Davis' book denying responsibility for errors
Delivering his closing statement, defense attorney Michael Sanft highlighted a paragraph from Duane Davis’ 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
Defense attorney questions why Tupac only had one security guard the night of the shooting
As his closing argument continues, defense attorney Michael Sanft is questioning why Tupac Shakur only had one security guard the night he was shot in Las Vegas.
To emphasize his point, he replayed testimony from Reggie Wright Jr., who was the head of security for Shakur’s label, Death Row Records. Shakur was supposed to have two security guards the night of September 7, 1996, but was left with only one when one didn’t show up, according to Wright.
“If I knew there was going to be an issue that eventually happened, of course I would have,” Wright said at the time. “I would have asked them to stay in the hotel if I knew what was going to happen.”
No apparent retaliation from Bloods in Tupac's killing, defense says
Duane Davis’ defense attorney has tried to poke holes in the prosecution’s argument that Davis killed Tupac Shakur as an act of gang violence, pointing to an apparent lack of retaliation from the Bloods set Mob Piru, which was not only an opposing gang but also affiliated with Shakur’s label, Death Row Records.
The three other men who were allegedly in the car with Davis that night have all since died from causes that do not appear to be related to Shakur’s killing, attorney Michael Sanft said.
Shakur was violently killed and “no one goes after the four individuals that are allegedly in the car,” Sanft said. “Do you know why they didn’t do that? It’s because they weren’t in the car.”
Here’s what happened to the other three men who are named as Davis’ coconspirators:
- Orlando Anderson: Though Anderson, who is Davis’ nephew, died in a gang-related shootout at a car wash a year and a half after Shakur’s killing, his death did not seem to be an act of retaliation. A former Compton police officer testified Anderson initiated the confrontation with two other men. All three people involved in the shooting were Crips, the former officer testified, including Anderson.
- Terrence Brown: Killed in 2015 during a robbery of a marijuana dispensary
- Deandre Smith: Died in 2004 of a medical complication
Defense attorney's closing statement has now surpassed the length of his case
Defense attorney Michael Sanft’s closing statement has now lasted longer than his case did.
On Thursday, Sanft’s case lasted just 1 hour and 16 minutes. He called three witnesses.
His closing statement has now passed 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Defense lists people who were involved in Tupac case but weren’t called by prosecution
There were multiple people who were investigating Tupac Shakur’s murder, were important witnesses or were involved in the case in some other way, defense attorney Michael Sanft said, yet the prosecution didn’t bring them into court to testify.
Here are some of the people who didn’t see the court room:
- Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Detective Clifford Mogg, who was one of the investigators on the Shakur case and testified during the grand jury that indicted Duane Davis.
- Marion “Suge” Knight, the Death Row Records CEO who was also in the car with Shakur the night he was shot. He is currently serving a prison sentence in San Diego.
- Yusuf Jah, the co-author of Davis’ 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend.”
- Greg Kading, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who interviewed Davis in 2008 and later wrote a book about the investigations into the murders of Shakur and rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious BIG.
Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Yusuf Jah’s first name.
Police can't prove Davis was in Las Vegas when Tupac was killed, defense says
Police investigating the murder of Tupac Shakur not only have no physical evidence connecting Duane Davis to the killing and cannot even prove Davis was present in Las Vegas that night, his defense attorney said in his closing argument.
Michael Sanft presented a slide to the jury with 16 bullet points of examples of police investigative tools, including wiretaps, phone records and surveillance video.
Davis claimed repeatedly in secret police testimony and in his book “Compton Street Legend” he was in the car where the shots were fired killing Shakur, initially stating his nephew pulled the trigger using a gun he had obtained. But more recently, Davis has said he was not in the city at all when Shakur was shot and Sanft said police cannot prove otherwise.
“There’s not one thing that says that Mr. Davis was in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting of Tupac Shakur,” he said.
Defense attorney says Duane Davis' statements were inconsistent and can't be trusted
The stories Duane “Keffe D” Davis told about the murder of Tupac Shakur cannot be trusted, his defense attorney argued in his closing, citing inconsistencies in his stories.
Sanft cited Davis’ repeated claims in police interviews and his book, “Compton Street Legend,” that he first spotted Shakur in his vehicle on the night of his murder when women were yelling to him and calling out his name, something two witnesses said on the stand they never observed.
“Is it a fact, or is it a fiction?” Sanft asked. “That is obviously not what happened on that particular night because you have eyewitnesses who say something completely different.”
Davis said in police interviews he waited for 15 minutes outside Marion “Suge” Knight’s Club 662 for Shakur to arrive, but in his book he said waited for 90 minutes, Sanft highlighted.
Davis’ defense also raised questions about the book’s claim that the Shakur murder weapon had been obtained by Davis from another kingpin named Eric “Von Zip” Martin rather than a gun his gang already had access to.
Energy fading in overflow room as closings stretch on
At least one person is nodding off in the overflow room where members of the public and media denied coveted spots inside the courtroom are instead watching the proceedings on a screen.
In the morning, people were intently watching the closing statements, but as the hours have gone by, the energy has faded. Several people are scrolling on their phones.
Defense: "Is that the reaction of a man who wrote his own book?"
Duane Davis’ defense attorney pointed to an interview with VladTV where Davis appears to forget the details of his own memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” as he argued Davis’ book should not be considered a truthful confession of his involvement in Tupac Shakur’s killing.
“You and Orlando and everyone else meets up but you guys don’t have any guns,” the interviewer said to Davis.
Davis asked, “Who said that?”
“Well, it was in the book,” the interviewer replied.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft asked jurors, “Is that the reaction of a man who wrote his own book and knows the details of the book?”
Davis has said the book was actually written by his credited cowriter, Yusuf Jah, and included made-up assertions about the Shakur murder to generate more sales.
