Prosecutors rest their case in Tupac murder trial after letting the defendant tell much of the story himself

By Taylor Romine, CNN

Las Vegas (CNN) — Sheltered from the oppressive August heat, attorneys, members of the public, media and jurors sat listening in a cramped, windowless Las Vegas courtroom as prosecutors worked to prove one thing: that Duane Davis, also known as “Keffe D,” is responsible for Tupac Shakur’s murder.

After a week and a half of testimony, prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after they attempted to reconstruct how they say Davis devised to kill one of the most famous rappers in history, almost 30 years after Shakur died.

At times, Clark County District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo and Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal didn’t even have to use their own words – Davis, in multiple recorded statements, discussed his involvement in the killing. Prosecutors shared almost eight hours of recordings from four different instances in which Davis relayed his version of events – some with small differences, but all placing him in a car next to Shakur on the night of September 7, 1996.

But even with the aid of those recordings, the prosecutors’ work hasn’t been completely painless for prosecutors: They’ve faced unwilling witnesses, opposed to the system trying to convict Davis, as well as the challenge of nearly three decades having passed since the event in question.

Another issue that could be a problem for the prosecution is the lack of physical evidence placing Davis at the scene of the crime, Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told CNN.

“The prosecution hasn’t yet been able to corroborate Davis’s confessions with independent evidence because any DNA, fingerprints, and the murder weapon are long gone,” he said.

As Davis’ attorney begins his defense, it remains to be seen how jurors will decide the case that has long been shrouded in mystery.

In his own words

In recordings from 2008, 2009 and two in 2017, Davis recounts his involvement in Shakur’s death, all with a specific story arc. That’s in addition to his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” in which he lays out a similar story.

Jurors have heard hours of recordings with varying audio quality: At times, rumbling static overtook the conversation, while at others the voices boomed across the courtroom. During much of these recordings, Davis sat looking ahead, his face showing no emotion as he listened to a younger version of himself.

Jurors listened to two interviews Davis did in December 2008 and March 2009 with law enforcement and his attorney as part of a proffer deal related to drug charges. In the first interview, Davis sounded upbeat and lighthearted as he shared his exploits over the years after then-Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading told him, “Nothing you say today will be used against you.” Prosecutors argue that this immunity was voided after Davis started talking about the events publicly. Judge Carli Kierny has ruled Davis’ statements made in his memoir as well as his previous police interviews are admissible as evidence.

Davis runs through the details, starting with the fight at the MGM Grand where his nephew, Orlando Anderson, was kicked on the ground by the Death Row crew, including Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight. After the fight, Davis and his fellow South Side Crips drove to Club 662, owned by Knight, in a chance to confront their opposition.

Not seeing the group, Davis’ group left, when they happened to pass by the rapper and Knight as they were driving, he recounted. The confrontation crested as the two cars were side-by-side, and Davis says he handed a gun to the back of the car, where Deandre Smith and his nephew, also known as “Baby Lane,” were sitting.

“I gave it to Dre, and Dre was like, ‘No, no, no,’” Davis’ voice boomed in the 2008 recording. “And Lane’s like, ‘Give it here.’ He popped it to him.”

It was the fullest retelling of Davis’ account of the night of September 7, 1996, that the public has heard to date. At one point, Davis comments “I ain’t never told nobody that story,” with one officer heard saying, “Doesn’t it feel good, man, to get it off your chest?” Another officer jokes about the details being in a book one day.

The story was retold again a couple months later in 2009, but with less gusto. Davis was much more somber, and his attorney, Wayne Higgins, is heard frequently admonishing his client for volunteering unnecessary information.

“Okay, stop, Keffe, hold on,” Higgins said in the 2009 tape. “When he asks you a question, answer the question.”

Two other recordings were also shared from eight years later, when Davis did a two-part interview in July 2017 with producers working on a BET documentary titled “Death Row Chronicles.” In these recordings, he is often reserved in his answers, avoiding specific details about the shooting or Anderson’s role in it.

During the recording from July 20, 2017, the interviewer asks, “You feel like you want to apologize to Tupac’s family?”

“Yes, I hate for that to happen, bro,” Davis is heard in the recording. But when Davis is asked again, he says, “No, I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do nothing to the family.”

The answer elicited a strong response from Sekyiwa Shakur, Tupac Shakur’s sister, who gave an intense, narrowed glare toward Davis as the recording played in court. A minute later, she pulled a tissue from a box placed in front of her and dabbed her eyes, taking several deep breaths before she briefly left the courtroom. Shakur’s family has been a constant presence, with a group of family members showing up in the front row of the gallery each day.

The “Death Row Chronicles” interviews more closely mirrored the accounts Davis gave in his memoir. In his proffer interviews, he explicitly said he handed the gun to the two young men in the backseat the night of the shooting, even going as far as to say he would’ve shot at Shakur’s car himself if he were in the right position.

Davis also claims in his book that as the cars sat next to one another, “Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat.”

“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,” the book reads. In the proffer recordings, he doesn’t say Shakur was armed or fired shots.

Prosecutors also introduced into evidence one other conversation Davis had with law enforcement back in July 1998, where he told an FBI agent that he and his nephew were in Las Vegas that night, but went back to their hotel after the fight. That conversation wasn’t recorded, instead only existing in a written report by the agent.

While hearing Davis in his own words is compelling, “It’s tough to prosecute a 30-year-old cold case based almost entirely on the defendant’s confession, especially when his story has changed over time,” Rahmani said.

“Without independent witnesses or evidence, the prosecution has an uphill battle to prove their case unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.

Several witnesses compelled to testify

Even 30 years later, several people were still unwilling to break the code of the streets.

James McDonald, the former head of security at Club 662; Denvonta Lee, a former South Side Crip; and Malcolm Greenidge, a childhood friend of Tupac and Outlawz member were all ordered to be in court as they were unwilling to testify voluntarily.

In addition to detailing the specific facts of the case, they also helped build out the interconnected and complicated world of gangs and rappers.

Lee talked about being at the Lakewood Mall in California when Anderson and other Crips got into a fight with the Bloods set Mob Piru, which was not only an opposing gang, but also affiliated with Death Row Records. Prosecutors have argued the chain stolen during the fight ultimately led to the vicious beatdown of Anderson at the MGM Grand on September 7 which preceded the shooting of Shakur and Knight.

On the night of September 7, Greenidge was trailing in a car behind Knight and Shakur, the front car in a caravan of cars, when the two men were shot. When he was able to get out of the car and get to Shakur, Shakur told him, “Get on the ground, they’re going to shoot you.”

“And when I turned around, there was a shotgun in my face,” held by a police officer, he said. He got on the ground and stayed there for what “seemed like forever,” kept there by police after witnessing his close childhood friend get shot.

McDonald, who openly admitted in court that he wasn’t fond of Davis, grew increasingly frustrated with questions from defense attorney Michael Sanft about gang activity, saying it would be worse for Davis if he answered.

“Talk to your lawyer, man,” McDonald directly appealed to Davis while in court.

The questioning continued, and McDonald yelled directly at Sanft: “I’m not finna send him to prison. You are!”

Even when police were originally investigating the case after Shakur died, investigators had a difficult time getting people to talk.

“Everybody that is related to this crime that we know of is coming from California,” testified Brent Becker, a former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detective. He said he traveled to the state about 10 to 12 times, trying to contact different people, but was unsuccessful in moving the case forward.

Law enforcement fills out the details of the case

In 2008, former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Daryn Dupree was interviewing Davis as part of a task force looking to solve the murder of Christopher Wallace, the rapper known as Notorious B.I.G. He got a very different answer than he was expecting.

When asked if he had anything to do with Wallace’s death, Davis answered, “No, we didn’t have anything to do with that one.”

Interviewers asked him what he meant, and Davis allegedly said, “We did the other one,” which they then clarified was referencing Shakur’s murder, Dupree testified in court. Dupree said the investigators “were shook.”

“We didn’t ask him any questions about Tupac. He offered that on his own,” Dupree said.

In July 2023, investigators executed a search warrant at Davis’ home and took items into evidence, including two large bins filled to the brim with papers and photographs containing old newspaper articles about Shakur before and after his death. One article’s headline reads, “No Easy Answers for Violence in Gangsta Rap.” Prosecutors showed a photo of a Vibe Magazine inside a bedroom from two months after Shakur’s death, featuring the rapper on the cover.

Investigators also found a copy of Davis’ book, along with Greg Kading’s “Murder Rap,” and Keenan Handy Sr.’s “The Confused Mind of a Drug Dealer.”

Robert Ladd, a Compton police officer who worked in the gang unit during the 1990s, testified that Davis held a position of power within the South Side Compton Crips at the time of the shooting. He described Davis as a “shot caller,” someone who “could tell the younger gangsters what to do if they don’t listen,” adding that those who wouldn’t listen would face “severe consequences.”

“The younger gang members are supposed to do what they’re told without hesitation,” Ladd said.

But some of the most compelling testimony from law enforcement didn’t have to do with receipts or ballistics, but rather the observation that Davis loved his nephew – who he said fired the fatal shots in an interview with police.

“I didn’t think Mr. Davis was lying because he put the gun in his nephew’s hand,” Dupree testified in court. “And if anybody knows anything from what I hear, Mr. Orlando Anderson was the man, besides Keffe D, in that neighborhood. He was the prince, and his family loved him.”

“I didn’t think that Mr. Davis would put the gun in his own nephew’s hand, dead or alive, and put that smut on him unless it was true,” he continued. “The person that killed Tupac was – in the neighborhood, he’s a hero. In the world, he’s a villain.”

Defense tries to poke holes in ship built of Davis’ words

Despite hours of recordings where Davis discusses his involvement in the killing, Sanft has steadily attempted to chip away at the credibility of the witnesses he cross-examined.

He’s repeatedly pointed to the lengthy passage of time, the quality of work from previous detectives assigned to the case and whether anyone can definitely prove that Davis was in Las Vegas that night.

“Just look at the actual facts,” he said during opening statements. “What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe said in any of his interviews or in the book?”

Sanft also argued during opening statements that his client was prone to exaggerate, and that his claims were “bullsh*t.”

“Keffe D was known to do this,” he said.

While the prosecution has argued Davis was the head of a criminal operation, the defense has worked against that narrative, Rahmani said.

“I’ve never seen a case where the prosecution wants to build up the defendant while the defense is trying to tear him down,” he said.

All the while, Sanft and prosecutors have appeared to maintain a good relationship. They are often seen during breaks chatting with one another, with their arms around one another’s shoulders during inaudible bench discussions.

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CNN’s Andy Rose, Taylor Galgano and Nic Anderson contributed to this report