Jury begins deliberations in Tupac Shakur murder trial / Photo: © POOL/AFP
Jury begins deliberations in Tupac Shakur murder trial
A jury began deliberations on Monday in the trial of a former Los Angeles gang leader accused of involvement in the sensational murder three decades ago of chart-topping rapper Tupac Shakur.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, is accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur's entourage at a Las Vegas casino.
"Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand," prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. "So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur."
Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the casino confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.
According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.
Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that evening who is still alive.
The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, was wounded.
The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America's most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.
Davis, whose Crips were one of a patchwork of rival gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.
- Confession -
The investigation into Shakur's murder sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis's memoirs were published in 2019.
Davis has repeatedly boasted over the years of involvement in Shakur's murder -- in interviews with law enforcement and media and ultimately in his autobiography, "Compton Street Legend."
He has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
Palal, the prosecutor, played clips from Davis's various alleged confessions as part of his closing arguments.
Michael Sanft, Davis's defense attorney, characterized his client's confessions as fiction and lies partly designed to promote his book.
"You're reading a book that is fiction and not fact," Sanft told the jury. "But the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting."
Sanft said there was no evidence implicating Davis in Shakur's murder other than his own statements.
In the run-up to the trial, Davis's lawyers tried in vain to keep the book from being introduced as evidence, along with remarks he made in an interview with police in 2008.
If convicted, Davis faces possible life in prison without parole.
Shakur, who was 25 when he died, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the US East Coast against the West Coast.
Known for hits like "California Love" and "All Eyez on Me," Shakur -- the son of a Black Panther -- was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of California hip hop when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.
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