Cinema VinesA Nevada judge has cleared the way for a 2008 police interview to be used in the upcoming trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the man charged with the 1996 murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur. Judge Carli Kierny ruled on Tuesday that the interview is admissible, setting the stage for Davis’s trial, which is scheduled to begin on August 10.
Davis, 63, faces a murder charge stemming from Shakur’s death, a case that has long been one of the most infamous unsolved murders in the United States. The investigation stalled until Davis began speaking publicly about the incident, including in a co‑authored book in which he claimed to have been in the Cadillac that fired the shots and to have supplied the weapon.
Defense counsel Michael Sanft contended that the 2008 interview was meant to remain confidential, arguing that detectives had expressly told him it could not be used against him. Prosecutors countered that there was no legal basis to exclude the interview, and the court agreed, allowing the recording to be introduced as evidence.
The interview has previously appeared in former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading’s book, "Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations," and portions were also featured in documentaries such as the recent film "Sean Combs: The Reckoning."
Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while he and Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight were waiting at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip. A white Cadillac pulled up beside them, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was hit multiple times and died six days later, whereas Knight survived with only minor injuries.
