Closing arguments begin in trial over Tupac Shakur’s murder

Thirty years after Tupac Shakur was shot, the trial of the man accused of orchestrating the killing has entered its final phase in Las Vegas. Prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments on Monday, leaving 12 jurors to decide the case.

Duane Davis, a former gang leader arrested in Las Vegas in 2023, pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors charged him, among other counts, with murder involving a deadly weapon. If convicted, the 63-year-old could receive a life sentence.

Nevada law allows prosecutors to pursue a murder conviction against someone who helped another person carry out the killing. The case concerns the shooting of Shakur from a moving car on Sept. 7, 1996. The 25-year-old rapper died in hospital six days later.

Shakur had been traveling with Suge Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records, after the pair watched a Mike Tyson boxing match in the casino city. A fight later broke out at a hotel, where Shakur and his associates assaulted Davis’s nephew. Davis and his nephew belonged to a Southern California gang that was feuding with the gang linked to Knight.

Davis’s own statements form a central part of the prosecution’s case. He had repeatedly said, including during police questioning, that he was in the Cadillac used in the shooting. He also described the incident in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” In later television interviews, however, he denied being in Las Vegas at all.

His defense portrayed him as a liar and a braggart. Prosecutors argue that Davis planned the killing to avenge the attack on his nephew.