By Jack Queen
Aug 31 (Reuters) – Closing arguments are set for Monday in the trial of an ex-gang leader accused of masterminding the drive-by killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, a cold case that became emblematic of violence permeating 1990s rap culture.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is charged in Nevada’s Clark County with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty. Davis is accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur, 25, who was one of rap’s most commercially successful and influential artists, in retaliation for the beating of his nephew.
Police say they long suspected Davis but did not have enough evidence to charge him until he went public with his story in media appearances and a memoir, which, along with tapes of his secret meetings with investigators, make up most of the prosecution’s case.
Prosecutors with the Clark County District Attorney’s Office are likely to argue that Davis’ story is generally consistent and that he has essentially admitted to arranging Shakur’s killing, which under Nevada law is enough to be charged with murder.
DAVIS’ WORDS WERE BRAVADO: LAWYER
Davis’ lawyer told jurors during opening statements that his client’s words were mere bravado and could not be corroborated. He also said there is no hard evidence to back up Davis’ claim or even prove he was in Las Vegas at the time of the killing.
Over the past two weeks, prosecutors played hours of recordings for jurors, including public interviews and secret meetings with investigators, where Davis said he was enraged after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis’ nephew at a Las Vegas casino on September 7, 1996.
Davis and three other men, including his nephew, went looking for Shakur and his record executive Marion “Suge” Knight in a white Cadillac on the night of the beating, he told police during an unrelated investigation. Davis said he passed a gun to the backseat, and when they found Knight and Shakur’s car, one of the two men in the back opened fire.
Prosecutors have not named the shooter, and the three other men in the car have since died.
Davis was a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, a Los Angeles-area street gang that feuded with rival gang Mob Piru, which was associated with Shakur and his record label Death Row Records.
Shakur’s killing in 1996 became a seminal moment in rap history and heightened hip-hop culture’s violent image during “gangsta” rap’s heyday, an era defined by feuding between East and West Coast artists.
Relatives of Shakur are attending the trial and have said they hope it can bring them long-awaited closure.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Rod Nickel)
