Tupac Murder Trial Reaches Closing Arguments in Vegas

Closing arguments began Monday in Las Vegas in the murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the former South Side Compton Crips leader accused of ordering the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty. He faces a count of murder with a deadly weapon tied to gang activity, and life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors do not claim Davis pulled the trigger. They say he planned the shooting in retaliation for the beating of his nephew hours earlier.

He is the only living person charged in a case that went unsolved for nearly three decades.

The Case

The prosecution rests almost entirely on Davis's own statements rather than physical evidence. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal and District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo played roughly eight hours of recordings drawn from four separate events across different years, in which Davis described the shooting in his own words. Some witnesses had to be ordered to the stand because they were reluctant to testify.

In his memoir, Davis wrote that he was in the Cadillac and had brought a .40-caliber Glock. "Them jumping on my nephew gave us the green light to want to do something to their ass," he wrote. "Pac chose the wrong game to play."

Prosecutors have never named the shooter. The three other men in the car have all since died.