The man accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur told police more than a decade later that he handed the gun used in the drive-by shooting to a passenger who then passed it to his nephew who opened fire on the rapper.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis is on trial in Las Vegas, charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon over the killing of the rap superstar in 1996. On Thursday jurors heard a recording of a police interview with Davis in 2008.
Prosecutors allege that although Davis did not fire the gun that killed Shakur, he ordered the shooting and supplied the deadly weapon to further criminal conduct for the gang he helped lead.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty.
His lawyer Michael Sanft has argued that what his client had previously said of his involvement cannot be believed.
Shakur’s murder is a cold case that has gripped the public’s fascination for 30 years.
Prosecutors allege Davis planned the 7 September 1996 shooting after his nephew Orlando Anderson was involved in a fight with Shakur in Las Vegas hours earlier. They argue that Davis believed the attack on his nephew could not “go unanswered”.
Central to the case are testimonies by Davis in the formerly secret 2008 police interview and, later, in a 2019 memoir he co-authored called Compton Street Legend.
Prosecutors on Thursday played the 2008 interview Davis conducted with Los Angeles Police detectives Daryn Dupree and Greg Kading, who were investigating the death of another rapper, Chris Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
Davis described the moment the Cadillac he was a passenger in stopped alongside the car Shakur was in.
“Yeah, if we would’ve been on my side, I would’ve blasted,” Davis said, according to a transcript.
According to the transcript, Davis said in the interview he passed his gun back to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, but Smith did not want the weapon.
Anderson, who was also in the back seat, took the weapon and started firing, Davis said.
Anderson died a decade before the interview, having denied any involvement in Shakur’s murder.
One of the detectives, Kading, told Davis in reference to a deal for his information: “Nothing you say today can be used against you.”
But prosecutors say any agreement was negated when Davis went public with his version in his memoir several years later.
The prosecutor said the book shows Davis was “mad” after his nephew was involved in a fight with Shakur in a Las Vegas casino, with Davis writing: “Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something to their ass.”
In the memoir he claimed he was inside the vehicle when Tupac was shot, and “tossed” the gun used to kill him into the backseat.
Davis has since distanced himself from the book, saying he did not write all of it and that parts were fictionalised to sell more copies.
In the interview played to court, Davis said he repeatedly spoke with Sean “Diddy” Combs and discussed killing Shakur.
The detectives questioned Davis about meetings with Combs during Bad Boy Records tour stops in San Diego, Anaheim, Irvine and Las Vegas.
“Which of those four is it when you talk to him about murdering Tupac?” Kading asked, according to a transcript shown in court, as reported by Reuters.
“It was really about both of them, yeah, either one of them,” Davis responded.
“Tupac and Suge?” Kading asked, referring to Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was with Shakur in the vehicle during the shooting.
“Yeah,” Davis responded.
Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
However, Davis’ lawyer Sanft asked jurors earlier in the trial: “What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of his interviews or the book?”
“You have to ask yourself the question: If I just say things, is that going to end up being one of those things where I’m going to be handed up for a murder by just repeating that fiction? I keep repeating that? The answer is no. You have to corroborate everything I say in order for it to be true. Otherwise, it’s just that.”
Sanft has also said prosecution witnesses were unreliable and the police investigation was riddled with issues.
A former Las Vegas homicide detective told the jury earlier this week that no witnesses had been able to identify the shooter.
Later, a former member of Shakur’s entourage, James “Mob James” McDonald, gave evidence that even though he was not there to witness the shooting, those who were there that night within Shakur’s circle had quickly communicated who was responsible.
“It was a gang war. People were getting hurt. People were being sought,” he said. “Orlando (Anderson), him and certain other people were being sought because people wanted to kill them.”
