Tupac murder trial opens in Las Vegas with jury selection

Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the trial of Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, the first person charged in the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis, 63, faces a murder charge with a deadly weapon for promoting a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty and could receive life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors plan to call 35 to 45 witnesses over several weeks, while the defence will call only a few.

Prosecutors allege that Davis orchestrated the shooting as revenge after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis' nephew at the MGM Grand hours before the attack. Davis was in a white Cadillac with three other men, all now dead, from which the gunfire came, prosecutors say. Davis spoke to investigators in 2008 under an immunity agreement, but his 2019 book 'Compton Street Legend' and subsequent media interviews revived the case and became key evidence, according to prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo.

Defence attorney Michael Sanft argues the book is fictionalised, written for profit, and that it is unclear which parts Davis wrote. Author Yusuf Jah, who co-wrote the book, recently told an investigator he doubted Davis fully read it, court documents show. Davis has also told local media he was not present the night of the shooting, contradicting his book. Shakur's family and friends are expected in court, his stepbrother Maurice Shakur said the trial will be retraumatising but necessary. The trial could last weeks.