SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
In the Tupac Shakur murder trial, prosecutors have presented what's seen as the foundation of their case. The rap icon was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996. Steve Futterman reports on the day in court.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: The prosecution's key witness on Thursday at the trial of defendant Duane Davis was defendant Duane Davis. For around two hours, jurors listened to a 2008 police interview where Davis, known as Keffe D, gave investigators step-by-step details of the night Shakur was shot. Davis has pleaded not guilty. Originally, the recording was supposed to be confidential. Davis is told that at the very start.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED INVESTIGATOR: What is said right here cannot be used against you, Keffe. Nothing you say today can be used against you.
FUTTERMAN: However, when Davis wrote his memoir in 2019 and later did numerous media appearances, the court ruled he waived his confidentiality protections. In the interview, Davis appears comfortable. At times, it sounds more like a conversation than an interrogation.
The key portion comes when Davis describes the final moments before Shakur is shot. Earlier that evening, Orlando Anderson, a member of Davis' gang, was beaten up by Shakur at the MGM Grand Hotel. Anderson was also Davis' nephew. Davis says he and three others went looking for Shakur, armed with a handgun. They found him near the Vegas Strip and pulled up alongside. In this part of the recording, police ask Davis if he intended to shoot. He says yes, except he was sitting on the passenger side, and Shakur's vehicle was next to the driver's side.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED INVESTIGATOR: So you were going to - you were fitting a blast if you had to, or you were just...
DUANE DAVIS: Yeah. If he would've been on my side, I would have blasted.
UNIDENTIFIED INVESTIGATOR: OK. So you hand the gun to the backseat.
DAVIS: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED INVESTIGATOR: You...
FUTTERMAN: Davis says the weapon eventually winds up in the hands of his nephew, who fired the shots. Of the people in the vehicle, Davis is the only person still alive today. Former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson says the tape is strong evidence.
LAURIE LEVENSON: He gave that statement, and he seemed to do so willingly. So that could have a dramatic impact on the jury. On the other hand, we can expect that the defense will say that he was just talking big. It wasn't true. It's not corroborated.
FUTTERMAN: The prosecution is expected to present more comments by Davis. The defense claims Davis wasn't even in Las Vegas the night of the shooting and that this recorded interview and other public statements were just embellishments.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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