{"id":597001,"date":"2026-08-26T22:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/597001\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:58:09","slug":"prosecution-rests-in-tupac-shakur-murder-trial-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/597001\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecution rests in Tupac Shakur murder trial \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Wednesday against Duane \u201cKeffe D\u201d Davis in the Tupac Shakur murder trial after nearly two dozen witnesses testified about the night in 1996<\/a> when the rap star was shot and killed in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys will begin calling witnesses to the stand later this week with closing arguments expected to begin Monday in the criminal case of the only person to stand trial in the 25-year-old hip-hop icon\u2019s shooting death.<\/p>\n

The defense is planning to call three witnesses, but they were not available to testify until Thursday. <\/p>\n

Davis isn\u2019t accused of firing the fatal shots, but prosecutors allege that he orchestrated the shooting in a revenge plot for a casino brawl hours earlier involving his nephew, Orlando \u201cBaby Lane\u201d Anderson, and Shakur. The rapper was in Las Vegas for the highly anticipated heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand.<\/p>\n

Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, prosecutors played short clips of Davis\u2019 YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as \u201cthe real truth.\u201d In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also played a clip from earlier in the trial when Davis appeared to mouth words toward a witness testifying about the rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Entertainment.<\/p>\n

Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify<\/a> was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking \u201cshot caller.\u201d Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.<\/p>\n

Ladd described Davis as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips who could order younger members to act. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe man who photographed rapper Tupac Shakur just moments before his death opens up about that fateful and tragic moment. Jonathan Gonzalez reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Much of the prosecution\u2019s case rested on Davis\u2019 own words from previous law enforcement interviews and documentaries. Davis has said he was riding in a white Cadillac with Anderson and two other men when they pulled alongside Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion \u201cSuge\u201d Knight<\/a> in a black BMW. In a 2008 <\/a>police interview played for jurors last week, Davis said he provided the gun and Anderson opened fire.<\/p>\n

The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday who would have been the leader among the four men in the Cadillac, Ladd answered, \u201cMr. Davis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ladd said that Anderson, a younger-ranking gang member, could not have opened fire with Davis in the car without Davis’ permission. If Davis had told the others to handle the dispute later, Ladd testified, \u201cthere wouldn\u2019t have been a shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Michael Sanft emphasized the lack of physical evidence supporting that theory. Ladd acknowledged that, aside from Davis\u2019 own admissions, he had no physical evidence placing Davis in Las Vegas that night and no phone records showing Davis ordered the shooting.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement experts said they collected bills and letters from Las Vegas hotels in Anderson\u2019s and Davis\u2019 residences, but they didn\u2019t know when they were dated, or the current location of that evidence.<\/p>\n

Sanft has characterized his client\u2019s accounts as fabricated and accused investigators of failing to corroborate what he has said. During the initial stages of the trial, Sanft said Davis was not previously charged in the case because law enforcement knew that he was \u201cfull of crap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security. Jurors also heard audio of Davis\u2019 previous interviews.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Landrum and Jessica Hill of The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prosecutors wrapped up their case Wednesday against Duane \u201cKeffe D\u201d Davis in the Tupac Shakur murder trial after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3990,146,85,46,268560],"class_list":["post-597001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music-musicians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}