LAS VEGAS — The man accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur went on trial Monday in Las Vegas, nearly three decades after the drive-by shooting that has stood as one of the most notorious unsolved crimes in American music history.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in connection with Shakur's death. Jury selection began Monday before Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny and is expected to take about a week, with the full trial projected to run as long as a month, and by some estimates up to six weeks.

Shakur, 25, was fatally shot on September 7, 1996, while stopped at a red light near East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, about a block off the Las Vegas Strip, after attending a Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand. He died six days later at University Medical Center. The shooting also wounded Death Row Records executive Marion "Suge" Knight, who was driving the car. Knight is now serving a 28-year sentence in a California prison in connection with a separate, unrelated 2015 killing.

Davis has been jailed without bail since his arrest in September 2023 and has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of life in prison. According to court filings and reporting on the case, Davis rejected a plea deal ahead of trial, opting instead to fight the charge despite the risk of a........

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