Tupac Shakur

Tupac murder trial delayed in light of new evidence: Reports

Portrait of Anna Kaufman Anna Kaufman

USA TODAY

It’s a question that has haunted fans and fed conspiracy theorists for nearly three decades: Who killed Tupac?

The mystery, which has long eluded professional investigators and amateur sleuths alike, got a big break in February 2023 when Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the rapper’s killing.

Davis has maintained his innocence, however, and fans of the California hip-hop legend will have to wait a little bit longer to see if the case has actually been cracked after a Nevada judge ruled on Tuesday that the trial be postponed by nearly a year.

Judge Carli Kierny pushed the trial’s start date, which was set to begin next month, to February 2026, after defense attorneys claimed they had evidence to prove that Davis was not in Las Vegas at the time of the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur, Rolling Stone and ABC News report.

Music entertainer Tupac Shakur presents an award at the 38th annual Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 1996.

Suspect arrested in Tupac Shakur’s 1996:A timeline of rapper’s death, investigation

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“It looks like there are quite a few things that are left to be done to get this case prepared so that Mr. Davis can have effective assistance of counsel,” Kierny said during a brief hearing on Tuesday, according to ABC.

Davis has pleaded not guilty to the murder and gang enhancement charges.

In a Friday filing, Davis’ lawyer Carl Arnold cited a private investigator’s findings that there were “several witnesses” whose testimony muddied the prosecution’s version of events, the outlets report.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis appears for a hearing related to his indictment in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur on Feb. 18, 2025, at District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Without evidence, Arnold argued that Reggie Wright Jr., a security employee for Death Row Records, and his team were responsible for the rap great’s death − not Davis.

Death Row Records belonged to Suge Knight, the record executive whose BMW Shakur was riding in when he was gunned down.

“Good luck finding someone saying that, that’s credible,” Wright told ABC over the phone Tuesday. “It’s heartbreaking they keep dragging in my name. I didn’t have anything to do with that. One of the worst days of my life when I heard that that happened.”

Prosecutors, who have not yet commented on Arnold’s narrative, have contended that Shakur’s killing stemmed in part from a brawl that broke out on the evening of Sept. 7, 1996.

Shakur, Knight and associates were involved in a fight at the MGM-Grand hotel in Las Vegas with a group that included both Davis and his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, with whom Shakur had clashed before.

Surveillance video showed Shakur and Knight kicking and punching Anderson near a bank of elevators, Las Vegas police said.

Davis and Anderson were members of the South Side Compton Crips, a Southern California-based gang that were rivals of Knight’s Blood-affiliated gang, Mob Piru, police said at the time.

Tupac Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. in a car in Las Vegas the night Shakur was killed, as Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson hold a news conference at the LVMPD headquarters on the arrest and indictment of Duane "Keefe D" Davis for the 1996 murder of Shakur on Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas.

The rivalry bled deep, spanning not just the East Coast-West Coast “gangsta rap” competition roiling hip-hop at the time, but the larger turf war at the center of Los Angeles street life.

The night of Sept. 7 a white Cadillac with four men inside pulled alongside Knight’s BMW while it was stopped at a red light. One person opened fire, riddling the passenger side of Knight’s car with bullets, police said. Sitting in the passenger seat, Shakur was shot four times, at least twice in the chest.

Police alleged at the Sept. 29, 2023, news conference shortly after Davis’ arrest that he had been sitting in the Cadillac’s passenger seat and handed a gun he’d obtained to one of the men in the back as retaliation for the casino fight earlier.

Contributing: Edward Segarra

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