Ex-Gang Leader to Get Date for Murder Trial Stemming from 1996 Killing of Tupac Shakur 

Artist Joaquin Saavedra MacCarthy Thin paints a mural depicting rapper Tupac Shakur during a ceremony for a street renaming in the rapper's honor in Oakland, California, US, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
Artist Joaquin Saavedra MacCarthy Thin paints a mural depicting rapper Tupac Shakur during a ceremony for a street renaming in the rapper's honor in Oakland, California, US, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ex-Gang Leader to Get Date for Murder Trial Stemming from 1996 Killing of Tupac Shakur 

Artist Joaquin Saavedra MacCarthy Thin paints a mural depicting rapper Tupac Shakur during a ceremony for a street renaming in the rapper's honor in Oakland, California, US, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
Artist Joaquin Saavedra MacCarthy Thin paints a mural depicting rapper Tupac Shakur during a ceremony for a street renaming in the rapper's honor in Oakland, California, US, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)

A former Southern California street gang leader charged with killing rap icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996 is expected Tuesday to learn the date for his murder trial, probably next year.

Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis won't face the death penalty but could be sentenced to life in prison if he’s convicted of one of hip-hop’s most talked-about killings. He pleaded not guilty last Thursday and remains jailed in Las Vegas.

Davis, 60, is originally from Compton, California. He was arrested Sept. 29 outside a Las Vegas-area home where police served a search warrant July 17.

In recent years, Davis said in interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that he orchestrated the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur at age 25 and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.

Knight, now 58, is serving 28 years in a California prison for the death of a Compton businessman in 2015.

Davis is the only person still alive who was in the vehicle from which shots were fired. He has also said he was diagnosed with cancer.

Prosecutors say the shooting followed clashes between rival East Coast and West Coast groups for dominance in the musical genre dubbed “gangsta rap.” The grand jury was told that Shakur was involved in a brawl at a Las Vegas Strip casino with Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, shortly before the shooting.

Anderson, then 22, denied involvement in Shakur’s killing. He died two years later in a shooting in Compton.

Davis implicated himself during multiple interviews and his memoir that described his life leading a Crips gang sect in Compton.

He wrote that he was promised immunity from prosecution in 2010 when he told authorities in Los Angeles what he knew about the fatal shootings of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace six months later in Los Angeles. Wallace was known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls.

Shakur had five No. 1 albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted in 2017 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He received a posthumous star this year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A street near where Shakur lived in Oakland, California, in the 1990s was renamed last Friday in his honor.



Taylor Swift Wins Big at MTV Video Music Awards, Ties Beyoncé’s Record

US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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Taylor Swift Wins Big at MTV Video Music Awards, Ties Beyoncé’s Record

US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Taylor Swift 's dominance continued at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she took home seven awards — including the night's biggest, the trophy for video of the year.
In her speech Wednesday night, Swift thanked her “boyfriend, Travis” for being on set of the “Fortnight” music video and cheering her on. Fans rewarded the mention of NFL star Travis Kelce with loud screams.
"Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” she said, before shifting gears to the 2024 presidential election and instructing her fans who are over 18 to register to vote.
Swift did, however, avoid discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential bid on stage. On Tuesday night, Swift endorsed the vice president, moments after Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump ended.
Swift's awards haul brings her to a career total of 30, tying her and Beyoncé for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history, The Associated Press reported. Eminem is now the male artist with the most VMAs, at 14.
Swift and Post Malone also took home the first televised award of the VMAs for best collaboration, for “Fortnight,” handed to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
Swift started that speech by giving remembrance to everyone who lost their lives and loved ones during 9/11, 23 years ago.
“I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost and that is the most important thing about today," she said. “And everything that happens tonight falls behind that.”
The other voice of 2024 pop, Sabrina Carpenter, won the trophy for song of the year for “Espresso.”
Katy Perry received the Video Vanguard Award, performing an eight-song medley spanning her career: “Roar,” “E.T.,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Firework,” and "Lifetimes."
Previous recipients of the Video Vanguard Award include Shakira, Beyoncé, Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Missy Elliott.