Las Vegas
Earlier this week, the defense attorney representing Duane Davis said during opening statements that his client’s public statements were “bullsh*t” — but an interview with police aired in court and Davis’ own memoir seem to tell a remarkably consistent story.
Davis, who is accused of orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder during a September 1996 visit to Las Vegas, spent a majority of court Thursday listening to a younger version of himself recount the events leading up to the shooting and the killing itself during a 2008 recorded interview with law enforcement. His version of events in the recording sounds strikingly similar to the account published in Davis’ 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
The hours-long interview — part of a proffer agreement related to drug charges — was at times filled with jovial back-and-forth between Davis, his attorney and investigators, with the former South Side Compton Crip recounting some of the highest points of his power and influence.
“Nothing you say today will be used against you,” Greg Kading, who was a Los Angeles Police Department detective, told Davis in the recording.
But prosecutors say Davis’ decision to write his book and speak openly about his story in interviews effectively negated the deal, and the judge in his trial agreed to allow the recording to be played to the jury.
After the notorious fight between Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, and people associated with Death Row Records – Shakur’s label that was co-founded by Marion “Suge” Knight – at the MGM Grand, Davis and his crew headed to Knight’s Las Vegas Club 662, staying there briefly before giving up on finding their targets, Davis said in the recorded interview.
While driving after a liquor store pickup, Davis recounts hearing fans yell on the street, “Tupac! Tupac! Tupac!” and seeing the rapper hanging out the window of a car while waving, he said in the recording.
The jury was listening intently and looking at the screen as the story of the shooting unfolded, more engaged after already listening to hours of the recording.
Davis’ car did a U-turn to go back around and drive up to the car Shakur and Knight were in, Davis said. Terrence Brown was driving, with Davis in the passenger’s seat, while Deandre Smith was on the left passenger side and Anderson, also known as “Baby Lane,” was on the right passenger side, Davis told investigators.
The driver pulled up on the passenger side of Shakur’s car, and Davis told investigators, “If we would have been on my side, I would have blast.” But since the car was on the other side, Davis said he handed the gun to Smith in the back seat.
Davis said Knight looked over at him during the shooting, and the investigator asks him why.
“I don’t f**king know,” Davis said in the recording, adding he had known Knight since they were 7 or 8 years old. Davis thought Knight was killed in the shooting because a bullet struck him in the back of the head, he said in the recording.
Shakur apparently tried to jump in the backseat while Knight was ducking out of the way, Davis continued. He estimated that about six bullets were shot.
As the recording played, with Davis recounting seeing the ambulance that was carrying the rapper, Shakur’s sister clenched her left hand against her mouth. A family friend moved to put their arm around her.
After they made their getaway, Davis’ group dumped their car at the nearby Carriage House, leaving the gun on a tire, Davis said in the recording, and went back the next day to pick it up.
Investigators questioned why the group left the gun with the car, saying it didn’t make any sense, and Davis retorts in the recording, “You want the truth, or you want me to tell you a lie? … Okay, we left a f**king gun on the car, dude.”
“I ain’t never told nobody that story,” Davis said in the recording after detailing his plan to go after Shakur.
“Doesn’t it feel good, man, to get it off your chest?” one officer says.
“Oprah’s going to be, like, ‘Mr. Davis, we really appreciate it,’” Los Angeles Police Department detective Daryn Dupree, who testified in court Wednesday, jokes.
“…and then he’ll be like, ‘Read my book,’” another officer chimes in.
The recorded interview shared in court Thursday and Davis’ book contain two major differences: how the gun got in the back seat, and who instigated the shooting.
In Davis’ book, he wrote that when his crew went to the liquor store, he took the gun and “tossed it in the backseat.” Later, when Davis’ car pulled up to their opponents, and he locked eyes with Knight, Davis says “Tupac made an erratic move and began to reach down beneath his seat.”
“Pac pulled out a strap, and that’s when the fireworks started. One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back,” the book reads.
In the police recording, he said he handed the gun to Deandre Smith, and that Anderson “leaned over on the window, he rolled down the window, popped.” Davis doesn’t mention to police whether Shakur fired or had a gun.
The recording revealed more than just details about the night of the shooting, with Davis going into the inner dynamics of the South Side Crips and the gangsters associated with Death Row Records, including allegations that Sean “Diddy” Combs offered Davis a million dollars to kill Shakur and Knight. CNN has reached out to Combs’ representatives for comment on the alleged bounty.
Court will continue Friday morning and prosecutors are expected to play another recording from 2009.
CNN’s Alea Motwane and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.
