Keefe D’s defense rests in Tupac Shakur murder trial as case nears verdict

Closing arguments are set for Monday in the closely watched trial nearly 30 years after the rapper’s killing.

The murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis is entering its final stage nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas.

Davis, who is accused of helping orchestrate the 1996 drive-by shooting, rested his defense Thursday after calling just three witnesses. According to Rolling Stone’s latest courtroom report, closing arguments are scheduled for Monday, bringing the closely watched case closer to a verdict.

Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors do not allege that he fired the fatal shots. Instead, they argue that he helped organize the attack and supplied the weapon used in the shooting.

The defense’s final witnesses included former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers Stan Hyt and Charlie Mangrum. Their testimony focused partly on a light-colored Cadillac that was seen at the Las Vegas home of Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight on the night Shakur was killed.

That detail could give Davis’ lawyers another avenue for arguing that investigators have not established the shooting beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution maintains that Davis was riding in a rented white Cadillac with his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and two other men when the vehicle pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur and Knight on Sept. 7, 1996. Prosecutors say the shooting was retaliation for an earlier confrontation involving Anderson at the MGM Grand.

Shakur was struck several times and died six days later at age 25. Knight survived the attack after suffering a gunshot wound.

The case has relied heavily on statements Davis made years after the shooting. Jurors have heard recordings of a 2008 interview in which Davis described his role and identified the men who were in the Cadillac. Prosecutors have also presented portions of a later documentary interview and evidence from Davis’ memoir.

Davis’ lawyers have argued that his public accounts were exaggerated and motivated partly by money and notoriety.

Rolling Stone has reported extensively from the Las Vegas proceedings, including testimony from former associates of Knight and members of the law-enforcement teams who investigated Shakur’s killing.

With the defense now finished, both sides will have one final opportunity to frame the evidence for jurors before deliberations begin.

The verdict could finally answer the central legal question surrounding one of hip-hop’s most enduring murder mysteries, whether prosecutors have proved that Davis played a criminal role in the chain of events that ended Tupac Shakur’s life.