The trial in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur has finally opened, three decades after the shooting in Las Vegas, according to Channels Television. The case centers on Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the only person ever charged in the murder.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and denies any involvement, with his lawyers arguing he was not in Nevada at the time of the shooting, as reported by Yahoo Lifestyle Canada. The trial comes after years of legal delays and follows Davis's own 2019 memoir, in which he described planning the attack — a claim he now says was fiction, according to The New York Times.
The prosecution's case is complicated by the fact that Davis is also expected to be its star witness, a situation CNN reports is unusual for a murder trial. Adding to the drama, Marion "Suge" Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records who was with Shakur on the night of the shooting, has said he does not want to testify, according to ABC News.
Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996 and died six days later. The case went cold for decades before Davis was arrested and charged in 2023, a development that revived public interest in one of hip-hop's most enduring mysteries.
Knight's reluctance to take the stand could shape the trial's outcome, as his testimony may be key to corroborating the prosecution's timeline. Observers will be watching whether Davis's prior statements — including his book and interviews — are used against him in court, and how the defense counters the narrative it says is based on fiction.
