Tupac Shakur: jury selection begins in trial of ex-gang boss for rapper’s killing

Key Points:

• Jury selection began in Las Vegas for the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, accused of ordering and providing the gun for Tupac Shakur's fatal 1996 shooting, marking a rare legal move in the decades-old high-profile case.
• Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, faces life without parole if convicted, though he is not alleged to have fired the shots himself; the trial could last up to five weeks under Judge Carli Kierny.
• Prosecutors plan to use evidence from Davis’s 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, which details the shooting, and argue the killing was revenge after an altercation involving Death Row Records affiliates and rival gang members.
• The trial revisits the infamous East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry, involving Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, with ties to gangs Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips, respectively.
• Tupac’s family and supporters hope the trial brings new information and accountability, while a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his stepbrother alleges other individuals remain uncharged in the rapper’s murder.