Thirty years after Tupac Shakur’s killing, can a murder trial offer justice?

Thirty years after rap superstar Tupac Shakur died from gunshot wounds sustained in a 1996 drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip, a trial is set to begin for Duane “Keffe D” Davis. Authorities have not accused Davis, a former gang leader, of firing the fatal shots. Instead, prosecutors allege he masterminded the ambush and supplied the weapon used in the attack.

Opening statements in the trial of the 63-year-old Davis are scheduled for Monday. The proceedings, expected to last four weeks, may not definitively answer who pulled the trigger, but for Shakur's family, it represents a long-awaited moment after decades of grief and trauma. Davis has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and faces a potential life sentence without parole if convicted.

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The next few seconds all happened so quickly. No words were exchanged, the time for talking had passed, the shit was on! Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat. It was the first and only time in my life that I could relate to the police command to, ‘Keep your hands where I can see them.’ Instead, Pac pulled out a strap, and that’s when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.

Prosecutors are building their case largely on Davis's 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend." In it, he describes himself as an eyewitness to the events that unfolded after his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, got into an altercation with Shakur and his associates during a trip to Las Vegas. Davis claims he orchestrated a plan to confront them, bringing a .40 Glock into the vehicle they were traveling in.

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Think of it this way: Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination – endlessly dissected, mythologized, monetized – so it’s not hard to see why someone in Davis’s position might falsely place himself at the center of it all for personal gain.

Davis's memoir recounts the rapid escalation: "No words were exchanged, the time for talking had passed, the shit was on! Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat. It was the first and only time in my life that I could relate to the police command to, ‘Keep your hands where I can see them.’ Instead, Pac pulled out a strap, and that’s when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back,” he wrote. Davis did not identify the shooter, but court documents suggest authorities believe his nephew or another passenger, both now deceased, may have fired the weapon.

Davis's defense attorneys are challenging the admissibility of the memoir, asserting that Davis and his co-author exaggerated details for profit. They argued in a court filing that Shakur's murder has been endlessly dissected and mythologized, akin to the "JFK assassination" of the entertainment industry, suggesting Davis may have falsely placed himself at the center of the events for personal gain. Despite the legal battle over the memoir, Davis expressed remorse in its pages, stating, “them jumping on my nephew gave us the green light to want to do something to their ass. Pac chose the wrong game to play …”.

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I felt a deep sense of remorse for what happened to Tupac, but them jumping on my nephew gave us the green light to want to do something to their ass. Pac chose the wrong game to play …