A trial date is set for the man accused of orchestrating the murder of Hip-Hop icon Tupac Shakur.
The Associated Press reports that the long-awaited trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis is scheduled to begin on Monday, August 10. Davis, who has been jailed since 2023, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty to the crime.
While it is unlikely that the trial will reveal the gunman, prosecutors are looking to prove that Davis was the man who orchestrated the plot and provided the murder weapon.
On Sept. 7, 1996, Pac and Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight were driving a black BMW after a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand Hotel. At a red light near the Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up and began shooting.
While Knight sustained minor injuries, Shakur was hit multiple times and died six days later. The Cadillac held Davis, Orlando Anderson, Deandre Smith, and Terry Brown. Of those four men, Davis is the only one still alive.
Shakur’s murder, according to the indictment, was a result of two overlapping feuds: The East Coast/West Coast rap war between Death Row and Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, and the beef between the South Side Compton Crips and the Mob Piru Bloods.
It is alleged that Davis, a leader with the South Side Compton Crips, set up the murder after a fight between Shakur and Anderson at the MGM Grand.
A 2019 memoir that Davis co-wrote, Compton Street Legend, helped revive the case after years of going cold. The book, along with several interviews Davis gave over the years, will be a key factor in the prosecution’s case against him.
If convicted, Davis faces life behind bars.