Tupac murder trial: Duane Davis's police interview played in court
What's the story
Duane Davis, also known as Keffe D, the man accused of orchestrating Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder, had his own recorded police interview played in court on Thursday. The recording from a 2008 interview was presented during his trial at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. In it, Davis recounted being involved in the shooting that killed Shakur.
Confession
Davis stated he never disclosed the incident to anyone
During the recording, Davis said, "I ain't never told nobody that story."
The interview was part of a proffer agreement related to drug charges and was conducted by Los Angeles Police Department detectives Greg Kading and Daryn Dupree.
A proffer agreement is a deal that lets a potential witness or investigation target share information with prosecutors without having those statements directly used against them in court.
Consistency
Davis's account matches his 2019 memoir
Davis's account in the recorded interview is consistent with his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
In both narratives, he describes a confrontation at the MGM Grand hotel between his nephew Orlando Anderson and Death Row Records associates.
The record label, which belonged to Shakur, was co-founded by Marion Suge Knight.
After this incident, Davis and his crew briefly stayed at Club 662 owned by Knight before they came across Shakur and Knight in a car.
Involvement
Details of the shooting
Davis detailed his role in the shooting in the interview.
He was in a car with Terrence Brown (the driver), Deandre Smith (on the left passenger side), and Anderson.
They drove up to Shakur's car, and Davis handed a gun to Smith.
After the shooting, he believed Knight was killed because a bullet hit him from behind.
The recording also revealed that after the shooting, they abandoned their car and left the gun on a tire.
Differences
Discrepancies between the recording and Davis's book
There are two major discrepancies between the recorded interview and Davis's memoir.
In his book, he wrote that he tossed the gun into the backseat when they went to a liquor store.
But in the recording, he said he handed the gun to Smith.
The second difference is who started shooting; in his book, Davis claims Shakur pulled out a gun first, which led to the shooting, but this isn't mentioned in the police recording.