LAS VEGAS — Attorneys began delivering opening statements Monday in the trial of the man accused of orchestrating the killing of Tupac Shakur.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is on trial in connection with the shooting of Shakur, who was shot near the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996.

No one was arrested in the slaying until Davis was taken into custody in 2023 outside his home in Henderson. The trial has attracted broad media attention; scores of TV cameras and lights sat outside the Regional Justice Center on Monday morning.

Prosecutors have said Davis’ public statements drove a renewed effort to investigate the case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal used Davis’ comments against him in the prosecution’s opening statement, playing clips of Davis talking about the killing.

In a memoir that he has since disputed writing, Davis described “tossing” a gun into the back seat of the Cadillac in which he was riding, so another man could commit the shooting.

Police have said Davis is the last person alive out of the four who were in the car.

“Now, nearly 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable,” said Palal.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft questioned his client’s credibility and the quality of law enforcement’s investigation.

“There are no facts to point to Keffe,” he said. “Not one.”

Speaking of his client’s statements, he showed jurors a PowerPoint slide that said: “Bulls---.”

Authorities have alleged Davis was the “shot-caller” who conceived the plan to exact revenge on the rapper and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight in retaliation for an attack by Shakur and his entourage against Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night at the MGM Grand.

“Duane Davis did not pull the trigger, but what he did do is plan the retaliation for the beating of his nephew,” said Palal.

Garry Dale, a former Metropolitan Police Department officer, was the first witness to testify.

At the time of the killing, he was patrolling the Strip area on a bike.

He said he rode in an ambulance with Shakur as the rapper was being rushed to University Medical Center. Shakur was still talking then.

“I was trying to convince him to tell me the name of whoever his assailants were,” Dale said.

Shakur was not interested.

He said something to the effect of: “No, we’ll take care of it,” according to Dale.

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