Jurors began deliberating in the first-degree murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, charged in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, after a prosecutor argued that Davis’ own words and a case “drenched in circumstantial evidence” prove he orchestrated the drive-by shooting.
The jury retired to consider its verdict after prosecutors and Davis’ defence presented their closing arguments.
Shakur was on his way to perform at a club in Las Vegas when a Cadillac pulled up beside him and music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later. Davis is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s death.
Chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Knight after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
Mr Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued these differences reflected Davis’ changing motivations and efforts to protect himself.
One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.
“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Mr Palal said.
Mr Palal told jurors that if they believe Davis’ statements, they do not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.
Still, Mr Palal pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and evidence that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting.
“Who fired is not the question,” Mr Palal said.
Prosecutors have not argued that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.
“The shot caller doesn’t just ride along,” Mr Palal said.
Mr Palal also argued the shooting was premeditated, pointing to evidence and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn.
“It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Mr Palal said.
Davis, 63, faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the killing of Shakur in Las Vegas nearly 30 years ago.
A panel of 16 jurors, four of whom will be alternates, heard 24 witnesses prosecutors called and three witnesses defence called over nine days. The trial was expected to take longer, with prosecutors originally planning to call 35 to 45 witnesses.
The prosecution hammered home the argument that Davis called the shots for the attack on Shakur that night based on Davis’ book and interviews, while Davis’ defence lawyer reiterated his claim that the prosecution’s narrative is fiction, and that they failed to back up Davis’ claims with evidence.
The trial brings to a head a decades-long case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.
Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on September 7 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired.
Shakur died six days later from his wounds.
Knight was also wounded, but survived.
For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat.
Davis described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.
Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime.
Davis, who has pleaded not guilty, is the only person still alive who was in the Cadillac.
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