Self-published memoir at heart of trial as Duane "Keffe D" Davis faces jury for Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder

The trial

Jury selection begins Monday in Las Vegas in the murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, who faces one charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. The proceedings are expected to last a month. Davis, identified as the onetime leader of the South Side Compton Crips, has pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement in the killing. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.

The night of the killing

Tupac Shakur was fatally wounded on the night of September 7, 1996, while in Las Vegas to attend a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand. After the fight, Shakur and Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight beat up Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a Crips member and Davis's nephew, in retribution over an alleged assault of a Death Row employee. Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and others pulled up beside Shakur's car. Shots were fired from the Cadillac, and Shakur, who was 25, died from his injuries. The trial will likely not establish who fired the shots; prosecutors aim to show that Davis ordered the killing and provided the gun.

The memoir at the center

The case hinges on Davis's 2019 self-published memoir, "Compton Street Legend," in which he wrote that he was "one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac's killing." The book identifies Davis as the man who acquired the gun and pursued Shakur in an act of revenge near the Las Vegas Strip. A detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who had been assigned to revisit the cold case took notice of the memoir. In 2023, the detective read excerpts from the book to a grand jury, which indicted Davis on one count of murder. Investigators were unable to locate other key evidence, such as the murder weapon or the car the shooter was riding in.

Confession or fiction?

Prosecutors argue the book's passages amount to a confession, made because Davis mistakenly believed he had complete immunity from prosecution. The defense is expected to argue the memoir is a fictional account concocted to turn a profit. Michael Sanft, a lawyer for Davis, addressed the issue at a hearing last month.

We're putting way too much credence and value and weight on statements that are made for entertainment purposes only. Not a confession to a priest, not a confession to a police officer, but rather to promote a book, to sell a product.

The rivalry behind the case

The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, is one of America's most high-profile unresolved murders. The rapper was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the East Coast against the West Coast. Death Row Records, founded by Knight, was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang affiliated with the Bloods alliance. Bad Boy Records, the East Coast label created by Sean "Diddy" Combs and starring Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, had hired the South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards. Wallace was murdered in March 1997.