Tupac Shakur Murder Trial: Everything You Need to Know - Rolling Stone

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon plus a gang enhancement for allegedly orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur; he has pleaded not guilty.

Jury selection begins Monday in Las Vegas, with Nevada prosecutors arguing that Davis, a South Side Compton Crips leader, set the fatal Sept. 7, 1996 shooting in motion. The trial is expected to last about four weeks, including one week of jury selection.

Shakur was shot while riding in a black BMW driven by Death Row boss Marion "Suge" Knight, stopped at a red light on the Strip after attending the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand. A gunman in a white Cadillac opened fire, hitting Shakur four times across his chest, arm, and thigh.

Knight suffered minor injuries in the attack, while Shakur was rushed to the hospital and died from his wounds six days later on Sept. 13, 1996, at age 25.

Davis is not accused of pulling the trigger but of supplying the .40-caliber Glock used in the shooting; he had also previously claimed to have been in the front passenger seat of the killer's car. Under Nevada law, a person can be charged with murder for aiding and abetting a crime.

Davis was arrested in September 2023, and a conviction could finally resolve one of hip-hop's most enduring unsolved murders, nearly 30 years after Shakur's death.