Jurors were presented with an audio recording of Duane (Keffe D) Davis disclosing to detectives in a 2008 police interview that his nephew Orlando (Baby Lane) Anderson was the one who shot and killed rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis, who claimed to be in the car with Anderson during the incident, is facing charges of orchestrating the 1996 murder of the 25-year-old hip-hop icon in Las Vegas. Anderson had passed away ten years before the interview took place.

According to Davis’s account in the interview with the Los Angeles police, the white Cadillac he and Anderson were traveling in, along with two other individuals, pulled up next to a car containing Shakur and hip-hop mogul Marion (Suge) Knight. Davis mentioned that he would have taken action if they were on the right side, but since Knight’s car was on the opposite side, he handed his gun to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, who declined it. Subsequently, Anderson, seated in the back, took the weapon and proceeded to fire shots.

During the court session, the jurors listened attentively as the audio transcript was played, with some taking notes. This marked the first time Davis openly discussed his role in the shooting with law enforcement. The interview is crucial evidence in the state’s case against the 63-year-old Davis, as prosecutors emphasized they would heavily rely on his admissions during police interviews, podcasts, and his 2019 co-authored memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”

Despite pleading not guilty, Davis’s lawyer denounced the prosecution’s account as fabricated and dismissed Davis’s claims of involvement as untruthful. The detectives initially questioned Davis about the 1997 shooting death of Shakur’s rival, the Notorious B.I.G., but later ruled him out as a suspect.

Prosecutors argued that Davis violated the confidentiality of his discussions with law enforcement by publicly sharing details of the shooting in subsequent interviews and his memoir. They alleged that Shakur was targeted in retaliation for an earlier altercation where Anderson was attacked by Shakur’s entourage after a Mike Tyson fight, in which Davis was present.

In his account in “Compton Street Legend,” Davis recounted seeing Shakur hanging out of a black BMW after the altercation, and believed Knight had been fatally shot after the incident. Shakur’s legacy continues to endure, with his influence as a rapper and actor remaining significant even decades after his untimely death.