Trial Date Set for Accused in 1996 Tupac Shakur Murder Case

The former leader of a street gang in Southern California, indicted in the killing of renowned rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996, is anticipated to be assigned a trial date on Tuesday, with proceedings expected to commence in the following year.

Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis, once at the helm of gang activities, faces a potential life sentence, with the death penalty off the table. Last Thursday, he entered a plea of not guilty and is currently detained in Las Vegas.

Davis, aged 60 and a Compton, California native, was apprehended on September 29 at a residence near Las Vegas where a July 17 search warrant had been executed.

Davis has come into the spotlight in past years, confessing in various interviews and his 2019 autobiography that he was the mastermind behind the drive-by shooting that resulted in Shakur’s death at the young age of 25 and left the music tycoon Marion “Suge” Knight wounded.

Knight, who is now 58 years old, is incarcerated for a 28-year term in a California state prison following his conviction for the manslaughter of a Compton businessman in 2015.

Currently, Davis stands as the sole surviving individual from the car involved in the fatal shooting. He has disclosed his battle with cancer as well.

The prosecution argues that the murder stemmed from a power struggle between East Coast and West Coast factions within the hardcore hip-hop scene. It was revealed to the grand jury that just prior to his death, Shakur was embroiled in a physical altercation at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip with Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Anderson, who was 22 at the time, consistently refuted any role in the murder of Shakur and was himself gunned down in a separate shooting incident in Compton two years following Shakur’s death.

Self-incrimination by Davis occurred through several interviews and within the pages of his memoir, where he chronicled his leadership of a Crips sect in Compton.

He alleged that in 2010 he was offered immunity by Los Angeles authorities in exchange for his testimony regarding the murders of Shakur and another eminent rapper, Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, who was killed six months after Shakur in Los Angeles.

Tupac Shakur’s legacy includes five No. 1 albums, six Grammy nominations, and a 2017 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This year marked the posthumous bestowal of a star for Shakur on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Recently, a street in Oakland, California, where Shakur once resided during the 1990s, was renamed in tribute to the late rapper.

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More about Tupac Shakur murder trial

• Tupac Shakur’s Legacy
• The Murder of Tupac Shakur
• Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis Biography
• Hip-Hop’s East Coast-West Coast Rivalry
• Marion ‘Suge’ Knight’s Imprisonment