By Jack Queen
Aug 31 (Reuters) - An ex-gang leader enraged by the beating of his nephew led a crew of men who hunted down and killed Tupac Shakur, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday during closing arguments in the murder trial over the killing of the hip-hop legend.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is charged in Nevada's Clark County with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon and has pleaded not guilty. His trial, entering its third week, is the culmination of a decades-long case that became emblematic
of violence permeating 1990s rap culture.
Binu Palal of the Clark County District Attorney's Office told jurors that Davis wanted revenge after Shakur beat up his nephew in a casino on September 7, 1996. "So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr. Shakur," Palal said.
Police say they long suspected Davis but did not have enough evidence to charge him until he went public with his story in media appearances and a memoir, which, along with tapes of his secret meetings with investigators, make up most of the prosecution’s case.
Davis’ lawyer will deliver his closing argument after prosecutors.
He told jurors during opening statements that his client’s words were mere bravado and could not be corroborated. He also said there is no hard evidence to back up Davis’ claim or even prove he was in Las Vegas at the time of the killing.
Over the past two weeks, prosecutors played hours of recordings for jurors in which Davis said he was enraged after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis’ nephew.
Davis and three other men, including his nephew, went looking for Shakur and his record executive Marion “Suge” Knight in a white Cadillac on the night of the beating, he told police during an unrelated investigation. Davis said he passed a gun to the backseat, and when they found Knight and Shakur’s car, one of the two men in the back opened fire.
Prosecutors have not named the shooter, and the three other men in the car have since died. Under Nevada law, Davis can be charged with murder even if he did not pull the trigger.
Davis was a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, a Los Angeles-area street gang that feuded with rival gang Mob Piru, which was associated with Shakur and his record label Death Row Records.
Shakur's 1996 killing became a seminal moment in rap history and heightened hip-hop culture's violent image during “gangsta” rap’s heyday, an era defined by feuding between East and West Coast artists.
Relatives of Shakur are attending the trial and have said they hope it can bring them long-awaited closure.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Rod Nickel and Bill Berkrot)
