Duane Davis seems in court docket throughout his homicide trial, associated to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, in Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
Steve Marcus/POOL Las Vegas Sun/ AP
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Steve Marcus/POOL Las Vegas Sun/ AP
LAS VEGAS — Jurors on Thursday heard Duane “Keffe D” Davis inform detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur.
Davis, who stated in the interview that he was additionally in the automotive with Anderson, is accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the 25-year-old hip-hop famous person in Las Vegas. At the time of the interview, his nephew had been useless for a decade.
Davis stated the white Cadillac he and Anderson have been driving in with two different males pulled up alongside a automotive with Shakur inside, together with hip-hop mogul and Death Row Records head Marion “Suge” Knight.
“If we would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis stated. Instead, Knight’s automotive was on the opposite aspect, so Davis handed his gun again to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith. But Smith did not need it, Davis stated.
Anderson, who was additionally in the again seat, took the weapon and began firing, Davis stated.
Jurors watched the display because the transcript of the audio recording rolled. Some often took notes. At the start of the audio interview, Davis and his legal professional whispered to one another. Shakur’s household sat nonetheless, often trying at the display or trying right down to the ground. The room was quiet as Davis described the shooting.
It was the primary time Davis instantly mentioned his involvement in the killing with authorities. The interview is important proof in the state’s case in opposition to the 63-year-old Davis. Prosecutors informed jurors in opening statements that they might lean closely on Davis’ personal admissions in interviews with police and on podcasts, in addition to the 2019 memoir he co-authored, “Compton Street Legend.”
He additionally beforehand informed the FBI that his nephew was not concerned in the 1996 shooting of Shakur, and speculated that Knight or Sean “Diddy” Combs have been concerned.
Davis has pleaded not responsible. His lawyer has referred to as the prosecution’s narrative “fiction” and stated Davis was “full of crap” when he informed tales of his involvement, and that authorities knew it. He argued investigators didn’t again up the statements his consumer made with proof.
The Los Angeles police detectives had really introduced Davis in to speak concerning the 1997 shooting demise of Shakur’s archrival, the Notorious B.I.G.
Davis had briefly been one of many suspects in that also unsolved killing, however he was later discounted.
“Everybody was a suspect at that time,” Daryn Dupree, one of many detectives in the interview, stated in court docket testimony Thursday.
The detectives inform Davis that their dialogue is confidential.
“Nothing you say today can be used against you,” stated Greg Kading, the opposite detective conducting the interview who described it in a ebook a number of years later.
Some in the viewers shook their heads when somebody in the audio tells Davis that “nothing leaves this room.”
Dupree provides, “If you don’t say nothing, it’s cool, but if you go out there and start talking …”
Prosecutors say Davis did in reality “go out there and start talking” a decade later when he informed tales concerning the shooting in interviews and the memoir. They stated that nullifies any settlement he had with legislation enforcement over this and different recorded conversations.
Prosecutors allege Shakur was killed to avenge Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew Anderson a number of hours earlier at the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson battle. Davis was at the battle however not the brawl.
Later in the night, they have been in the Cadillac and noticed Shakur hanging out of a black BMW with individuals calling out “Tupac!”
Davis stated that after Lane fired the shots, he thought Knight was useless.
Decades after his demise, Shakur stays a cultural icon, and probably the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He died as his recognition was peaking and his movie profession as an actor was taking off. His legend has solely grown in the years since.