Suge Knight Emerges As Key Witness In Tupac Murder Trial

Suge Knight appears on the witness list as Keefe D heads to trial for Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder in Las Vegas.

Suge Knight is expected to testify in Keefe D’s Tupac Shakur murder trial, putting Hip-Hop’s surviving eyewitness under oath.

A witness list names Marion “Suge” Knight among those expected when jury selection begins August 10. FOX5 Vegas reported Knight is the only surviving witness besides Keefe D from the 1996 shooting.

Knight drove the BMW when gunfire struck Tupac on September 7, 1996, surviving with minor injuries. Knight previously refused to testify in the case after Keefe D’s 2023 arrest in Nevada court.

“I’m not gonna get on the stand and testify against somebody,” Knight said. “For what?”

He added, “I wouldn’t go, I wouldn’t testify. None of that s###.”

Keefe D, born Duane Davis, faces murder with deadly-weapon and criminal-gang allegations under Nevada law.

Authorities claim Keefe D supplied the gun and directed South Side Compton Crips after Tupac’s associates attacked Orlando Anderson. That confrontation happened hours before a white Cadillac pulled beside Tupac’s vehicle and someone opened fire.

Investigators revived the case after Keefe D described his role in interviews and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.

Tupac died September 13, 1996, at age 25 after four gunshot wounds and six days in a hospital.

AllHipHop reported over the weekend that Keefe D refused a rumored 15-year plea agreement while maintaining his innocence before trial. Sanft denied that prosecutors formally made that offer but explained why defendants sometimes accept negotiated sentences.

“Some clients go for a plea deal because you do have some control over the negotiation with the DA compared to a verdict by 12 strangers,” Sanft said. “Of course, I have to give Keefe every option because I’m bound by that ethically, and Keefe will make his final call.”

Sanft said jury selection must separate decades of media coverage from evidence admitted inside the courtroom.

“I don’t think anybody, especially the defense, would begrudge someone walking in with preconceived notions. That’s just being human.”

“I have faith in our community in Las Vegas that we’re smarter than that. That if we’re given a set of instructions, we will abide by the instructions, meaning you would only consider evidence that’s presented to you during the course of the trial, and nothing else.”

Keefe D’s trial begins August 10 with prosecutors seeking life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.

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