Tupac murder trial begins in Las Vegas, 30 years on

The 30-year wait for justice

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, a former gang boss, stands accused of orchestrating the killing and has pleaded not guilty.

Davis was first arrested and charged in 2023, closing a case that had gone without an arrest for more than two decades. He faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon, with intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, as BBC News reported.

How Tupac was killed

Shakur was shot in a drive-by attack on 7 September 1996, riding in the passenger seat of a car driven by then-Death Row Records boss Suge Knight. He was taken to hospital and died six days later.

The killing became one of pop culture’s enduring mysteries, feeding decades of theories about the East Coast versus West Coast feud that fuelled some of hip-hop's most storied rivalries.

Prosecutors say the case hinges largely on a book co-authored by Davis in which he described his role in the shooting, an account his defence argues is partly fictional.

Knight, still serving a prison term, is regarded as the last surviving witness to the attack and could feature among the trial’s witnesses.

The proceedings, expected to revisit the deadly gang turf wars of the 1990s, will run in Clark County District Court over the coming weeks.