The murder trial of Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur is headed to closing arguments. Defense rested Thursday (August 27) following testimony from three former Las Vegas police officers.
RELATED: Lawyers For Keffe D Seek To Suppress Evidence In Tupac Shakur’s Fatal Shooting Case (UPDATE)
How Was Duane Davis Linked To Tupac Shakur?
Tupac Shakur was riding in a BMW on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, survived. Years later, Keffe D would say he procured the gun and his nephew fired the shots. His nephew has since died. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and his 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.
What Did Keffe D’s Defense Argue On His Behalf?
Prosecutors say Davis orchestrated the killing. He faces life in prison if convicted of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft has argued that Duane Davis fabricated or embellished his accounts of the killing for money and notoriety. Sanft also argued that investigators failed to independently corroborate his claims.
Davis, who is 63, did not take the stand at trial. Meanwhile, retired Las Vegas homicide detective Dan Long was the defense’s final witness. Long testified that he unsuccessfully attempted to verify several details that Keffe D provided during a 2009 police interview.
For example, Keffe D told Long that his nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, had gone to a Las Vegas hospital after being beaten by Tupac Shakur and others in a casino brawl. This took place hours before the rapper was fatally shot. Long said he was unable to find hospital records confirming Anderson was treated there. Long also tried unsuccessfully to locate records for a white Cadillac that Davis said had been rented before the shooting.
