Trial for Tupac Shakur's Murder Starts 30 Years After His Death

The trial of a former gang leader, accused of planning the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, began on Monday. This is 30 years after one of America’s most talked-about unsolved cases.

The trial is expected to last a month. It may not clearly identify who fired the shots that killed the California hip-hop star on September 7, 1996. He was in Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson boxing match at the time.

Prosecutors want to show that Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, ordered the killing. They claim he also provided the gun used in the drive-by shooting that took Shakur’s life.

The trial kicked off with jury selection, which is expected to continue through the week.

Davis, who is 63 years old, appeared in court wearing a light-blue shirt and blue tie. If found guilty, he could spend life in prison without parole.

The murder of Shakur, also called 2Pac, is one of the biggest cold cases in America. It has sparked endless discussions among music fans about who was behind it and why it happened.

Shakur died at 25 and was a key figure in the East Coast vs. West Coast hip-hop rivalry. He is known for songs like “California Love” and “All Eyez on Me.” Shakur, the son of a Black Panther, grew up in Harlem and Baltimore but became a California bad boy when he joined Death Row Records.

The trial will look into the struggle between Death Row, founded by Marion “Suge” Knight, and Bad Boy Records. Bad Boy was started by Sean “Diddy” Combs and featured Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, who was killed in March 1997.

Prosecutors say Death Row Records was protected by Mob Piru, a gang from Los Angeles that is part of the Bloods. Knight had ties to this group. Meanwhile, Bad Boy hired the South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards.

After the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand casino, Knight and Shakur attacked Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. This was in response to an alleged attack on a Death Row employee. The prosecution says Davis wanted revenge.

Later that night, a white Cadillac with Davis, Anderson, and others pulled up next to Shakur’s car in Las Vegas. Shots were fired, and Shakur was hit fatally.

The investigation struggled for decades due to a lack of evidence. But it got new life after Davis published his memoirs in 2019. In the book, he said he was in the front seat of the Cadillac and handed a gun to those in the back. But he did not say who shot Shakur. Everyone else in the Cadillac that night has since died.

These statements matched what Davis had told reporters before. But this time, they led to his arrest in September 2023.

Davis later changed his story and pleaded not guilty. “I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody. Never did ever kill nobody,” he told ABC News in March 2025 from prison. “They don’t have no evidence against me. They can’t even put me in Las Vegas.”

Now, Davis claims he was in Los Angeles when Shakur was killed and that he has never read his own memoirs. He says his co-author exaggerated his claims to sell more books.

“I just gave him details of my life,” Davis said. “And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.”

As the trial approaches, Davis’s lawyers tried to stop the book from being used as evidence, along with comments he made to police in 2008 as a witness.

No matter the verdict, it is unlikely to please those close to Shakur. In May, Shakur’s stepbrother, Maurice Shakur, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court.

“There remain individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes,” his complaint states.

The lawsuit mentions a recent TV documentary mini-series called “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.” In it, Davis says Combs offered him $1 million to kill Shakur.