A Las Vegas jury viewed portions of a 2018 BET documentary Friday featuring Duane “Keffe D” Davis describing the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. In the recorded segment, Davis explained his decision to speak publicly, stating he was motivated by a cancer diagnosis and wanted to share his account of events. The documentary excerpt presented to jurors mirrored details Davis had previously provided to law enforcement during a confidential 2008 police interview.
According to Davis’s account shown in court, he was traveling in a white Cadillac with three companions, including his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, when they encountered Shakur in a vehicle driven by Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight. Davis stated he handed a loaded .40-caliber handgun to the backseat, claiming Anderson then fired the weapon. When directly asked who shot Shakur, Davis declined to provide specifics on camera, citing street code.
Prosecutors argue that Davis’s participation in the documentary and subsequent memoir publication invalidated his legal protection from a prior confidentiality agreement with police. The director of the docuseries testified he paid Davis between $10,000 and $20,000 for his involvement. In a separate 2009 police recording also presented to jurors, Davis claimed Anderson used water to wash gunpowder residue from his hands following the shooting.
Davis currently faces murder charges in connection with Shakur’s death. He maintains he fabricated his original statements to gain leverage in an unrelated drug case and repeated the story for financial gain in the documentary.
Originally reported by Rollingstone →
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