The trial of Duane Davis reached closing arguments in Las Vegas on August 31. Davis has been accused of orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. The 63-year-old is charged with one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal argued Duane Davis’ past confessions “make no sense as a lie”
The jury consisted of 16 members, including four alternates. Over nine days, they heard testimony from 24 witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense. During the closing statement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal presented a slide that read, “Davis’s statements make no sense as a lie,” reports CNN.
Palal pointed to statements Davis made in 2008 and 2009. Davis reportedly said he was in a car with his nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson. He made the statement during an investigation into Christopher ‘Biggie Smalls’ Wallace’s murder. Palal also drew attention to the details Davis gave about the shooting, stating, “If the notion is Mr. Davis is creating this whole story, why would he create the story that makes him legally liable for murder when he could just make himself a witness?”
Prosecutors previously claimed that Davis acted as the on-site commander and ordered the attack that killed Shakur. The rapper had left the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after attending the highly anticipated Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon boxing match. As Shakur headed to Club 662 in a black BMW for a scheduled performance, a gunman shot him four times on September 7, 1996. Doctors rushed Shakur to the hospital, but he died on September 13 at age 25. With no witnesses willing to speak to the police, the case went cold for decades.
Prosecutors allege the former street gang leader planned the shooting after his nephew got into a fight with Shakur. During opening arguments, Palal played excerpts from a 2008 interview in which Davis described pulling alongside Shakur’s car. Shakur was traveling in the BMW with former Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight. He allegedly said he had no clear shot and later gave the weapon to DeAndre ‘Dre’ Smith. He said, as per People, “If he would have been on my side, I would have blasted.”
According to Palal, Smith allegedly hesitated, prompting Anderson to take the gun and fire. Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s death and was killed in Compton in 1998. Davis has pleaded not guilty in his Las Vegas trial. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
