Tupac’s stepbrother makes heartbreaking plea as rapper’s murder trial begins with opening statements today: Live updates

Mopreme Shakur appeared on the BBC on August 16 to share his thoughts on his stepbrother’s murder trial, nearly 30 years after Tupac’s fatal shooting in Las Vegas.

Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in connection with Tupac’s drive-by shooting death in September 1996.

‘The justice I want, I will never get. I want my brother back. Period dot. I want my little brother back,’ he said.

‘Pac didn’t get a trial, he just got a death sentence. The amount of pain, distress, heartache that the family has gone through, and Pac’s fans have gone through, is unmatched,’ he continued.

Shakur said that the family were ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the outcome of the trial.

The DA played a surreptitious audio clip recorded by police of Duane Davis allegedly speaking about his search for Tupac Shakur on September 7, 1996.

Davis and his gang were said to comb the Las Vegas area after his nephew’s attack, but called it quits and decided to go to a night club after they were not able to locate him and his crew.

As they made their way to the club, Davis and his associates apparently spotted Shakur among a fleet of vehicles.

‘Tupac, he gave himself away,’ Davis said in the recording. ‘Otherwise, they woulda got away.’

Prosecutor Bilal alleges Davis and his crew made a U-Turn, followed Shakur’s vehicle, and handed a gun to Deandre Smith. When Smith did not shoot, his nephew Orlando Anderson began firing into the rapper’s car.

Davis was seen looking at who was seated in the courtroom gallery as court began for the day.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal began his opening statement by playing a video of Tupac’s associates kicking and beating Orlando Anderson, Duane ‘Keffe D’s’ nephew at the MGM Grand in September 1996.

They then showed a picture of Tupac and Suge Knight’s bullet-ridden vehicle and argued the retaliatory attack against them was orchestrated by Keffe D.

Lawyers explained the different gang camps between the Mob Pirus and South Side Compton Crips and how their rivalry came into play in the lead up to Tupac’s death.

The state argues that the rapper’s murder was an ‘act of revenge.’

‘You will learn when the opportunity presented itself for retribution, Duane Davis made sure that the shooters were armed and ready to execute their revenge,’ he said.

Mopreme arrived at the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas on Monday morning dressed in a black New York Giants shirt.

He sat in the back row of an overflow room as names were drawn for who will get to watch the trial in person.

The seating lottery is divided into three groups between family, members of the media and general public.

Those who are not seated in the courtroom will watch a livestream of the trial in a separate room in the building.

Prosecutors believe that Davis organized Tupac Shakur’s shooting in retaliation to an attack on Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in September 1996.

Lawyers argue that the pair’s rival gang affiliations were foundational in the motive of Shakur’s killing, as Davis was affiliated with the South Side Compton Crips and Shakur was affiliated with the Mob Piru gang.

Davis wrote about the events leading up to Shakur’s death in his 2019 memoir ‘Compton Street Legend,’ detailing his life as a gang member, who was in his circle, and who was present the night that Shakur was shot.

As a result of his book, as well as a series of BET docuseries episodes that aired in 2017 in which Davis discussed the incident in detail, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reopened the case.

Davis was indicted in 2023 on one count of murder with a deadly weapon in the rapper’s death, but prosecutors do not claim that he fired the fatal shots.

Opening statements are set to begin at the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas at 9.30am PST/12.30PM EST.

Last week, 12 jurors and four alternates were selected for the trial.

Members of the public hoping to watch one of hip-hop’s most anticipated murder trials in person will have to rely on luck to get inside the courtroom.

Public seating at the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas will be extremely limited, with seats being handed out through a daily lottery, according to AP News.

Those who fail to secure a coveted courtroom seat will still have another option.

Officials are opening a room on the courthouse’s second floor where members of the public can watch a live feed of the proceedings.

Judge Carli Kierny is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last about a month.

A supplemental witness list obtained by USA Today last week includes several notable names prosecutors could call to the stand in the trial over Tupac Shakur’s murder.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and his former bodyguard, Eugene ‘Gene’ Deal, are among the most prominent names listed as potential state witnesses as proceedings get underway.

Combs is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence following his July 2025 conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, as well as his stepbrother, Maurice ‘Mopreme’ Shakur, and cousin Katari Cox, are also expected to testify.

Death Row Records CEO Marion ‘Suge’ Knight is also on the list of potential witnesses, despite his defiant refusal to testify in the case.

Marion ‘Suge’ Knight has insisted on several occasions that he won’t be testifying against Tupac’s murder suspect despite being with the rapper when he was killed.

Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis was arrested by Las Vegas detectives in October 2023 and was charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon in Shakur’s case.

Knight, the 61-year-old Death Row Records co-founder, told TMZ in 2023 that he believes police have arrested the wrong man for Tupac’s murder, and stated that he would not be taking the stand in court.

He was injured during the 1996 shooting, and despite being the only living witness, said: ‘1000% I wouldn’t go. I wouldn’t testify, none of that.’

Last week, he doubled down on his defiant statements to ABC News, saying: ‘This trial has nothing to do with me and if somebody brings me there, it’s gonna hurt whoever brings me there. I promise you that.’

Knight is currently serving a 28-year jail sentence for a hit-and-run crash in 2015.