Jury selection began on Monday in Las Vegas for the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. The legal proceedings are anticipated to span one month, though they may fail to definitively identify the individual who pulled the trigger during the 1996 incident.
Prosecutors contend that Davis, once the head of the South Side Compton Crips, provided the weapon and directed the attack following a confrontation at a Mike Tyson boxing match earlier that evening. The 63-year-old defendant faces a potential sentence of life without parole. He has pleaded not guilty, despite previously detailing his involvement in the incident within his 2019 memoir. Davis now claims the book was embellished by his co-author and that he was not in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting.
The case sheds light on the historic rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, which defined the 1990s hip-hop scene. While this criminal trial moves forward, the family of Tupac Shakur continues to pursue accountability, recently filing a civil suit that points toward broader, unaddressed culpability in the rapper’s death.
