Tupac Shakur
Defense attorney Michael Sanft told the jury that his client’s prior detailed confessions, media interviews, and 2019 memoir describing his role in Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing were mere fiction fabricated for money and attention True Colors Theatre Company/Official Website

The man accused of helping orchestrate Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing is now asking jurors to disregard the very public admissions that helped put him on trial.

Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, 63, is on trial in Las Vegas over the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur near the Las Vegas Strip nearly three decades ago. Davis has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say he was not merely a passenger in the Cadillac used in the attack, but the person who helped set the killing in motion. Police have said they long suspected Davis, but his own interviews and 2019 memoir helped provide the evidence needed to arrest him in 2023.

Now, his lawyer is trying to turn those statements into the centre of the defence. In opening statements this week, attorney Michael Sanft told jurors to question whether anything Davis said publicly was backed by evidence.

'What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of his interviews or the book?' Sanft asked. Behind him, a presentation slide showed one word: 'BULLSHIT.'

The Confessions at the Heart of the Case

Davis' public comments have long been key to the case. In his book Compton Street Legend, he wrote that he was in the white Cadillac with the men accused of confronting Shakur and Death Row Records boss Marion 'Suge' Knight on 7 September 1996.

Earlier that night, Shakur, Knight and others had beaten Davis' nephew at the MGM Grand casino. Davis later wrote that the attack gave his group 'the ultimate green light' to retaliate.

He also said he handed a gun to the men sitting behind him in the Cadillac before shots were fired into the car carrying Shakur and Knight. Shakur died days later from his injuries.

Police have never publicly identified the shooter, but they have described Davis as the 'mastermind' who obtained the weapon. Under Nevada law, a person can be charged with murder even if they did not pull the trigger, as long as prosecutors prove they participated in the crime.

Knight, who survived the shooting, remains an uncertain figure in the trial. In the months after Shakur died, Knight said he would not help police because 'I don't get paid to solve homicides.' Now imprisoned at a state penitentiary near San Diego, he says his position has not changed. 'They make me come there against my will, if Keffe D's lawyers bring me there, it don't look good for him. If the prosecution brings me there, it don't look good for them,' Knight said. 'Leave me out of it.'

Risky Strategy for the Defence

Legal observers say the defence has little choice but to argue that Davis exaggerated or invented his role. Former prosecutor and defence lawyer Catherine Christian told Reuters the approach can work in cases involving gang figures or rappers accused of building reputations through dramatic claims.

She said jurors may accept that Davis told a 'tall tale' to sell books or boost his name. But the strategy also creates a problem: Davis must now convince jurors that his old story was false and his current denial is true. Defence attorney Neil Rockind said that creates a paradox for the jury.

'It's hard for a witness to quarrel with their own words,' Rockind told Reuters.

The trial is expected to run for up to six weeks and has drawn intense attention because Shakur's killing remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in music history.

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