Jurors in Duane Davis’ murder trial heard a 2008 police interview in which he said Orlando Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur. The recording was played Thursday in a Las Vegas courtroom, putting Davis’ account of the 1996 drive-by shooting directly before the jury.
Dec. 18, 2008 interview
Davis said he agreed to speak with investigators because he was trying to avoid prosecution on drug charges he had been told could carry a life sentence. Greg Kading told him, “Nothing you say can be used against you,” and Davis answered, “Don’t bullshit me, and I won’t bullshit y’all.”
In the recording, Davis said Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson was seated directly behind him in the white Cadillac, while DeAndre “Dre” Smith sat behind the driver, Terrence “Bubble Up” Brown. Davis said he handed a loaded.40-caliber Glock to the back seat because he did not have a clear shot. He said Smith hesitated, Anderson grabbed the weapon and opened fire, and the two cars were at Flamingo Road and Koval Lane as Suge Knight drove the BMW with Tupac Shakur beside him.
Flamingo Road and Koval Lane
Davis said the BMW was idling at a red light on Sept. 7, 1996, when the gunfire started. He said Knight looked directly at him as the shots rang out, and that Shakur appeared to be trying to climb into the back seat. Davis also said he believed Knight had been shot in the head and would not survive.
After the shooting, Davis said the group returned to their hotel to smoke weed and drink. He also said an ambulance carrying Shakur and Knight passed him and the others near a crosswalk on Las Vegas Boulevard, and he told investigators, “That shit was funny as a motherfucker.”
Greg Kading and Daryn Dupree
Daryn Dupree testified Wednesday that he and Greg Kading first approached Davis in the garage of Davis’ Inland Empire home in 2008. Dupree said they were working on the 1997 Los Angeles murder investigation of Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious B and Biggie Smalls, when they first spoke with Davis.
The interview gives jurors Davis’ own account of the shooting, including who he says fired and where each person sat in the cars. Prosecutors say the recording amounts to a confession in the case, and the jury now has to weigh what weight to give a statement Davis made after being told nothing he said could be used against him.
