Jury selection has begun in Las Vegas for the Tupac Shakur murder trial
Jury selection began in Las Vegas on August 10 in the murder trial of rapper Tupac Shakur, in which Dwayne “Keffi D” Davis, the former leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, stands accused. Prosecutors allege that Davis, 63, ordered the musician’s murder and provided the weapon used in the attack.
About 75 potential jurors have been summoned to court. They will be questioned about their ability to remain impartial in this high-profile case; the selection process is expected to last at least until the end of the week. If Davis is found guilty, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tupac Shakur was shot and killed on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas, while sitting in the passenger seat of a black BMW alongside music producer Marion “Shug” Knight. The rapper, who was 25 years old, was on his way to a club after a boxing match featuring Mike Tyson. Knight survived the shooting.
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Davis is the only person charged in this case. However, prosecutors do not claim that he was the one who fired the shots. According to their account, after an altercation between Shakur and Knight with Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, near the MGM Grand, Davis sought revenge. According to the prosecution, the altercation was in response to an alleged attack on a Death Row Records employee. Later that same evening, a white Cadillac—which, according to the prosecution, was carrying Davis, Anderson, and others—pulled up alongside Shakur’s BMW, after which shots were fired from the Cadillac.
The prosecution plans to use excerpts from Davis’s 2019 book, *Compton Street Legend*, as evidence. In it, he described handing a gun from the front seat to those sitting in the back of the Cadillac. Davis was arrested in September 2023. He pleaded not guilty, citing a lack of evidence and claiming that his co-author had exaggerated the events described in the book.
The trial before Judge Carly Kirney is expected to last between one month and five weeks. William Lesain, who identified himself as Shakur’s cousin, told reporters outside the courthouse that the trial marked the culmination of three decades of grief and trauma for the rapper’s family.
