Law&Crime Sidebar - Shocking Tupac Murder Confession Revealed in Court

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

The Tupac Shakur murder trial reached an explosive turning point in Las Vegas when a former LAPD detective testified that Duane "Keffe D" Davis admitted he was in the car the night Tupac was killed. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the key testimony and sits down with Jamilah Barnes, Tupac's cousin and a board member of the Tupac Shakur Foundation.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson, Heather Berzak & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What was it? We did the other one. He said we did the other one. For years, D. Davis denied any involvement in Tupac Shakur's killing. But in 2008, according to a former LAPD detective, he admitted his role, not to police investigating Tupac's death, but to a task force that was looking into the murder of notorious BIG. Mr. Anderson grabbed a gun and shout across Mr. Smith.

into Mr. Knight's car that Mr. Tupac Shakur was in. We're going to break down the biggest moments from another day in this trial as the prosecution seeks to use Davis' own words to convict him. And we are also going to sit down with someone who knew Tupac Shakur personally, Jamila Barnes, Tupac's cousin. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Okay, so we're back with more from Las Vegas, Nevada. This is where the Tupac Shakur murder. is now in its fourth day, and we have even more key testimony to break down. And this is coming really at the end of the third day. We really don't want you to miss it. So the prosecution put two witnesses on the stand who may have completely changed the whole trajectory of this entire case. One of them, a former LAPD detective, testified that D. Davis, the defendant,

actually admitted to his role in Tupac's murder. the prosecutor say he didn't actually pull the trigger, but that he orchestrated this drive-by shooting back in 1996. Now, here's the twist. It wasn't a confession to the police that were investigating Tupac's death specifically. No, this allegedly came during a proffer interview with the feds who were actually investigating the killing of another big name rapper. Tupac's friend turned rival, notorious B-I-G, and the man who heard it, a former LAPD detective named Darren Dupreate. Now, before we get to that, okay, we also heard from a former FBI agent who sat down with Davis back in 1998, and what Davis allegedly told him back then was a very

different story. This kind of goes to what the defense has been saying, right? Their argument is, you can't believe Duane Keefey Davis. He can't believe our client. He had changing stories. You didn't corroborate what he said. He exaggerated what he said for, you know, to sell a memoir, to sell a book, you know, attention, things like that. Now, before we jump into this, I got to let you know. This is a very big case that we're following here on Sidebar. Like we cover a lot of big cases. We're kind of limited in everything we can show you,

every piece of footage, every document. So if you haven't heard yet, you can look at everything, the totality of the case on the case file section of the Long Crime Plus app. So we are opening up the evidence vault so you can inspect the raw body cam footage, the 911 calls, the crime scene photos, the full trial tapes firsthand. Plus, you get ad-free streaming of all your favorite Long Crime and Court TV shows.

So you can see the full picture for an entire month free. Head on over to Longcrimeplus.com. Enter promo code sidebar, and you can start exploring today. Okay, let's jump back into this. So I want to start with that FBI agent. His name is Wade Lee. Back in the late 90s, he was assigned to a federal task force that was investigating gangs in South Central L.A.

One of the people that he was looking at was Dwayne, Giffy D. Davis. So Davis ended up getting indicted on these drug charges, allegedly trafficking two kilograms of cocaine. Davis was facing some serious prison time. So in the summer of 1998, Davis apparently sat down for what's called a proffer interview. It's essentially a meeting between a suspect, potentially a defendant, and law enforcement. And this is a meeting where someone would offer information, seemingly in exchange for leniency, possibly avoiding prosecution or together. The statements really wouldn't be used against them, at least in that prosecution. And during that conversation, Lee reportedly asked Davis about the Tupac Shakur killing.

What was Davis' response? Denied any involvement. Said he wasn't there, that he didn't know who did it. And in fact, he seemingly pointed the finger at someone else. And we've talked a bit about this in other sidebar updates. According to this witness, he suggested that corrupt Compton police officers working for Shug Knight might have been responsible. Remember, Shug Knight has long been accused of being an affiliate or a member of the Mob Pyrou Bloods, this, what appears to be rival gang or was a rival gang to Davis's south side crypts. So when Davis seemingly points the finger at other people, he's, I guess the argument would be, accusing his own enemies. But there is something that you need to understand about the timing here. So by this point, 1998, rumors had already been swirling

about who could have been involved in Tupac's killing. This was going on for years. And people were talking about the Southside Compton Crips being involved. And that's what makes Davis's denial so interesting. Okay. But before getting to that denial, Lee testified about what Davis allegedly told him regarding death row records and drug trafficking. As far as the gang activity and things of that nature, he mentioned there was an individual by the name of, uh, uh, Harry O that provided money to start the organ, the death row records. Also, what this is the name?

I believe Patrick Johnson provided approximately $80,000. It actually told Davis to give $80,000 that money that Davis owed to Johnson from previous game track transactions to Johnson's girlfriend, money can be used to start death row records and he also explains Marion should Knight's role and his connection to the blood gang members yes he did I said that Marion Knight had gained control of the North Compton drug trade and that he was associated with a bunch of the blood street gang members like the Maupairoos and such and they were you know getting you know the night was

getting them in and out of, getting them out of jail, bailing them out, and they were, they would cooperate with, uh, night. And basically when Knight goes to prison, he tells you Reggie Wright kind of takes over. Yeah, Reggie Wright Jr. took over the organization after Shug Knight was arrested. So it appears, according to Lee's testimony, Davis was telling the FBI and death row records was built on drug money, seemingly corroborating that it was more than just a record label. And then came the questions about Tupac Shakur and his death. So here is what Lee says that Davis allegedly told him in that 1998 interview.

And then he talks a little bit of the gang war that occurs certainly after the murder of Tupac Shakur. Yes. Basically, he said that there was a conflict between Davis and Mr. Marion Knight that resulted, as a result of the shootings, that there was a basically war going on between Southside Compton Crips and Compton blood pirate gang members stemming from the mall to altercation with Marcus Nunn and Orlando Anderson, other members of Southside Compton Crips along with the Compton blood gang members.

And he claims the reason that people believe that Orlando Anderson is the killer is that he asserts the Compton police is telling people that. That's correct. He made comments that you believe that Compton PD members were putting out rumors that Orlando Anderson and them were involved. Do you confront him about Mr. Anderson, the attack, and him being upset about that particular attack?

Well, I mean, we asked – we asked him about that, about the whole escalation of incidents because of the gang activity. The incident at the mall, then at the MGM Grand, then obviously the shooting of Tupac and things that that nature. Mr. Davis said that Davis and Anderson were upset after the casino attack on Anderson, but they weren't going to strike back with so many police officers around that they would have struck back once they returned to Compton. So he indicates to you that he's angry enough to do it. It's just he planned on doing it back to Compton, which instead of in Las Vegas. Yeah, if they were very apparently it was because of police presence in the area, something that nature.

Yeah, according to Lee, Davis admitted he was angry enough to retaliate, but claimed he wanted to do it in Compton, not Las Vegas. Also apparently said Compton PD were spreading rumors that his nephew, Orlando Anderson, was the killer. But when Davis's defense attorney had the opportunity to question Lee, they hammered him on this, criticizing his investigation, or maybe, according to the defense, a lack thereof. Did you ever verify the information in here specifically about allegations of Tupac Choucahore's murder? Verify in terms of what? Well, for instance, in the document that would have been the U.S. 302 that's dated as of July 14, 1998, there's an indication here, for instance, that at the Las Vegas Casino, Davis, Anderson, Davis's girlfriend, and Anderson's girlfriend walked or went up to their hotel room at the Excalibur Casino.

Now, once again, this is 1998. The death of Tupacruh was in. September of 1996. Right. Did you ever verify that information with Las Vegas to see if either, and in this case, what the 302 indicates is that the room was in Anderson's name. Did you verify that to be true? I did not specifically now. Okay.

And then with regards to the way in which he describes, meaning Mr. Davis, how they got to Las Vegas, he says in here that they drove to Las Vegas in a land cruiser. Any particular reason, I mean, did he have a Land Cruiser? Was there any verification of that information? I did not verify that. Now, in addition to that, he had indicated that Corey Edwards, Kevin Davis, Terry Brown, and Big Dre, or AKA Big Gray, I'm sorry, Big Dre and Wynn had also traveled to Las Vegas. Did you ever verify if any of those individuals went to Las Vegas?

No, I did not. Now, in addition to that, he had made mention, at least with that first interview, that he believed that Compton police officers had been the one to have committed that particular act, the crime in Las Vegas, in terms of the shooting of Tupac Chouker. Is that a yes? Yes. And with regards to that, though, sir, did you ever look into the possibility that Compton police officers may have been involved in the shooting of Tupac Chuker? I did not specifically know. So we have Davis in 1998, seemingly denying involvement, and this FBI agent seemingly admitting he didn't follow up. Now, 10 years later, according to another witness, everything changed.

A different investigation was underway, and this one focused on the killing of notorious BIG. So there was this task force that was made up of the LAPD, the FBI, the DEA, the ATF. They were looking into whether anyone connected to death row records or the Southside Compton Crips was involved in the assassination. Dwayne Keefe D. Davis was on their radar. Now, the lead detective on this task force seemed to be Greg Cating, and one of his partners was a man named Darren Dupree. They reportedly had evidence that Davis was involved in drug trafficking, trafficking, PCP and cocaine, which, you know, could put him away, what, for the rest of his life.

So they approached him, let him know they had a case against him, and they arguably, allegedly offered him a deal. come in, talk to us about Biggie Smalls. Maybe we can work something out. So Davis sat down with them, with an attorney present, federal prosecutor was there too, and when they asked Davis about Biggie, he said he didn't know anything. But then, and this is key, according to DePree, Davis said something that caught everyone off guard. During the course of that, do you ask Mr. Davis about his involvement in the Biggie Smalls murder?

Yes. And what is his response? At that time, he said, no, we didn't have anything to do with that one. When he said, we didn't have anything to do with that one, did that trigger anything in your mind as to what he was saying? Would I recall, yes. We would be like, that one. What do you mean?

And then he said, we did the other one. He said we did the other one. And so at that point, what did you think he was talking about? Me personally, the only other one was Tupac. But we had nothing, we didn't think he was, we were talking about Christopher Wallace. We didn't ask him any questions about Tupac. He offered that on his own. And so when he does that, is there some discussion then of maybe having a conversation about

Tupac. It was a surprise to us, number one, we were shook. We were surprised. Yes. That moment right there, that led to this proffer interview on December 18th, 2008. And this time, all these years after the killing, this interview was specifically about Tupac Shakur. And according to Dupre, this is when Davis laid out his version of events in detail. claiming that he was in the white Cadillac, that he had a 40 caliber gun, that he allegedly passed it to the back seat, but the would-be shooter got scared.

So Davis's nephew, Orlando Anderson, remember the prosecution claims that this was revenge that Tupac and Co. beat up Orlando Anderson earlier in the night on the night that Tupac was killed at the MGM Grand, right? So Davis's nephew, Orlando Anderson, allegedly grabbed the gun and fired. This was the first time that Davis had allegedly admitted to being in the car, to having the gun, to being part of what happened. Here's what Dupree, claims Davis told them. Mr. Davis stated that his nephew, Mr. Orlando Anderson, was jumped and beat up in a club or in a hotel in Las Vegas after the Tyson fight. He came and told Mr. Davis what happened. they went looking for Tupac, Shub, anybody who was involved, basically, in the beatdown of Mr. Anderson. And they couldn't find him at first, and then they saw him, and basically Mr. Davis had the gun at first.

but they came up on the passenger side of Shug Knight in Mr. Shakur's vehicle, so he couldn't shoot across the driver. So he handed a gun to Dray in the backseat, Mr. André Smith. He was afraid to shoot. Mr. Anderson grabbed the gun and shot across Mr. Smith into Mr. Knight's car that Mr. Tupacu was in with Mr. Knight. And did he tell you what kind of vehicle he was in? In the white Cadillac. Did he tell you what kind of gun was used?

A 40 cow. This was a story the prosecution had been waiting for, right? Davis's own words describing his alleged role in Tupac's murder, but the defense went after Dupre, okay? This happened in court. They went after Dupree the same way they went after late. And I'm going to get into that in a second, but first I just have to establish another well-known connection here

that was brought up. during this line of questioning. And that concerns Sean Diddy Combs, the CEO of Bad Boy Records. According to DePri, Davis didn't just admit to being in the car. He claimed that Diddy, who was referred to back then as Puffy, was connected to this in some way.

Mr. Davis had a narcotics friend in New York by the name of Equine's Williams Zip. He said he could. This is a lot deeper than that. Sean Puffy Cohns was supposed to have given money to Zip Martin to give to Mr. Davis for payment of the Tupac murder. Fast word, if we go to Mr. Davis, he says he can rekindle that relationship with Mr. Zip Martin and give him to talk about the money that was given from Sean Puffy, cones to Mr. Martin that never got to Mr. Davis.

And did you guys, or Mr. Davis, come up with a plan to get leverage on Mr. Williams, Zip? I won't take the idea. Me, Detective Cating, ATF, Jim Black, and Keefe D, Mr. Davis, flew to New York. so Mr. Davis can work undercover to try to rekindle that friendship and business relationship with Zip. According to Dupree, Davis told investigators that Dittie was involved, that money was changing hands. He apparently took this seriously enough to fly to New York to try to get Zip Martin to talk about allegedly being the middleman, but Zip was dying of cancer, so that fell through. But the defense, as I said, went after Dupree. And they pointed out that this task force was a little bit.

investigating Biggie Smalls, not Tupac. So they asked Dupree what efforts he made to verify Davis' story. They pressed him on why Las Vegas Metro wasn't notified sooner. And I got to say, DePrie's testimony, revealing. Did you verify any of the information that Mr. Davis told us? Yeah. We were trying to verify as much as we could. Okay. Tell us the efforts. No, I'm sorry. Can you tell this journey efforts that you made to verify the information that it gives you in 2000? buying to New York to try to get the relationship with Zip Mr. Martin because he was involved here in Vegas with the murder and the large sum of money that is supposed to be given to Mr. Martin to give to Mr. Davis. So that's why we flew to New York to try to get that whole thing going. Right. And based upon your efforts in New York, were you able to verify that? Any of that information to be true?

No. Now, in addition to that, there was other information that Mr. Davis gave up in 2008 in December. Did you verify any of that other information to be true? I don't think any other information that he gave was anything except the murder of Tupac. Sure. Did you at any point verify, for instance, the people that he identified in the vehicle? No. You are aware, of course, that some of the people that he had identified in the vehicle were still alive in the name, right?

One was. What was that? That was Terrence Brown. Okay. Did you ever verify that Terrence Brown was in Las Vegas at the time of the murder? You never got a chance to. Why not? As I said, our first course of action was to tie in Mr. Combs, the money, and work back from there.

You can see what the defense is doing here, right? pressing Dupree on those critical issues, follow-up, was this a thorough investigation? Was it a sloppy investigation? Not verifying certain details is their narrative, basically. Never confirming one person Terrence Brown was in Vegas. And so essentially, Davis may have admitted involvement, but the defense is suggesting it wasn't properly verified. Now on redirect, so this is when the prosecution comes back to question a witness, asked a simple question. It's a theme we heard in the defense opening statement, did you believe him? Did you believe it? Did you believe? Did you believe Davis. Here's what DePri said. When you were talking to Mr. Davis and he's telling you

what he's telling you, did you have reason to doubt his version of events as it relates to homicide itself? I didn't think Mr. Davis was lying because he put the gun in his nephew's hand. And if anybody knows anything from what I hear, Mr. Orlando. Anderson was the man besides Kee-Feedee D in that neighborhood. He was the prince, and his family loved him. I didn't think that Mr. Davis would put the gun in his own nephew's hand, dead or alive, and put that smut on him unless it was true. The person that killed Tupac woke in the neighborhood.

He's a hero. In the world, he's a villain. So I didn't think Mr. Davis, me personally, would do that unless it was true with his own nephew, because I know he loved his nephew. So that was a big moment. That was a big moment. He did believe him. But earlier on, in cross-examination, the defense did get to Pree to arguably acknowledge why Davis might have been motivated to talk. You had also targeted the idea, though, that it wasn't just him moving something.

large amount. It was people coming into his house, potentially his family, people could be arrested, his friends, for instance, that was part of that, and they all could go to prison, right? I will say this. Mr. Davis took the hit for a lot of people in his family and his kids, his wife, but that's why he did a lot of stuff he did. I will say that. And I appreciate you saying that. So that's where the defense may have been going with that, right? That Davis had reasons to say what he needed to say in order to protect the people around him. And that's where things stand in the courtroom right now, okay? But I have to call this out.

And I mentioned this at the beginning. I'm going to say it here. This case is a lot more than just legal arguments and testimony and evidence. It is about a person, a real-life human being, not just the icon that we all know, someone whose life was taken far too young. someone who was adored, who was loved, someone whose family has waited nearly 30 years for accountability and justice. I say that because we had the chance to sit down with Jamila Barnes. This is Tupac's cousin, a board member of the Tupac Shakur Foundation.

She has been in that courtroom every day, and she told us what that experience has been like. How has it been being in the courtroom with Kee-Fee-D? incredibly uncomfortable very uncomfortable yeah he um it's it's not been um he's just been very uncomfortable for myself and my family to the point that you know we've um had to ask the marshals like can you direct him to just look forward he doesn't have to look at us he doesn't have to make eye contact with us um it's already incredibly uncomfortable so um you know those those those those nuances, I just add to the awkwardness and uncomfortableness and the trauma really of the situation. There were two moments that were particularly harder for me. The one was the autopsy, you know,

questioning. Half of the family left out and the other half of us kind of stayed in just to observe. I was one that stayed in. And, you know, I actually was kind of, emotionally prepared for the images that had been surfacing for many years, but there were just more graphic images that I had not previously seen that were very difficult for me, so I had to excuse myself from the courtroom when those images were displayed. So Tupac is my big cousin. He's five years older than I am, and, you know, my core memory, of him are just my big cousin, you know, from my childhood. Like I have really beautiful memories of him from, you know, just being active, vibrant, talented, creative, individual. You know,

I have one memory, I have many memories, but one in particular at my ninth birthday party. All of my, you know, cousins and family friends were in my mom's basement celebrated in my birthday and one of my memories is just remember seeing there was a circle of us and he was in the center of the circle and you know leading us on whatever it was whether it was a song or dance competition whatever it was but those are like early memories that kind of were really indicative of his talent and his stardom even in our younger years um i think his lasting legacy has been able to be sustained for so long because um he spoke from a place where, from a place of like empathy, you know, he could, his lyrics, his passion,

his interviews, his life experiences, allow him to share and connect and resonate with people in a very human way in a way that wasn't just like a untouchable celebrity, but really like your everyday, you know, friend or your neighbor or your relative or your classmate. the stories, the songs, the lyrics that, you know, he shared really spoke about, you know, really spoke about just justice for humans in general. You know what I mean? Like the equality of all the things for us all, not for one individual type of person or one culture or one collective, but really, you know, humankind. And when you, when your disposition is from that standpoint, you're able to connect and resonate with people across multiple different

walks of life. And even now, because he was so adamant about, you know, things that were important to humankind, that sentiment is able to resonate today, generations later, where, you know, people now, the young people now can still find their voice and what his voice represented back then. So I think that's a big part of his lasting legacy. And, you know, his voice continues to be the footprint of, you know, things being white for people around the world to this day. Do you have any doubt in your mind? And yes, Kee-D is innocent unless proven guilty. Do you have any doubt in your mind that he wasn't connected to this, that he wasn't involved in what happened to Tupac? or when you're listening to the evidence, you're listening to the arguments you've seen this case,

are you even more confident in the prosecution as case and his role in what they claim he did? Yeah, just to be very honest, I do, I mean, it does, there is clear evidence of his involvement in some way, shape, or form. So it's really on the prosecution to kind of like bring that whole circle and really demonstrate all those people. but without a doubt there is some way in the pyramid of it all, you know, there is some connection. So for sure, those things have to be proven in court and hopefully once proven, you know, hopefully the right verdict will come in and the proper consequences will be hopefully served. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. Thank you so much. I'll see you next time.