The wait is finally over – Tupac’s murder trial has begun nearly 30 years to the day he was shot in Las Vegas.
As the long-awaited trial gets underway in Las Vegas, one local attorney says the case is already breaking the mold of a typical criminal trial. Speaking as an outside legal observer, Sam Mirejovsky, part of Sam & Ash Injury Law, points to the unusual strategy unfolding in court, where the defense is challenging the credibility of Duane “Keefe D” Davis’ own account while acknowledging parts of the prosecution’s narrative. At the center of the case is Davis’ memoir, which prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on as they work to prove their allegations.
With much of the case’s original cast of characters now gone and decades of public speculation surrounding Tupac’s death, the attorney explained to The Blast exclusively why the jury’s ability to focus strictly on the evidence presented in court could ultimately be critical.
Sam Mirejovsky sat down with The Blast to share some insight into Tupac’s murder trial, which got underway on Monday morning nearly 30 years after his death. Because of the lapse in time from the crime to the trial’s start, as well as some other pertinent aspects, this trial is unique in many ways.
“This case to me is fascinating as an attorney because you literally have sort of the positions, the standard positions or defense and prosecutor reversed. And what I mean is normally you would have a prosecutor arguing that the defendant isn’t credible, lacks credibility and is all around a bad person, and you would have the defense argue the opposite,” Mirejovsky told The Blast.
“And here, the crux of the case, as I am listening to this is that you have the defense attorney actually saying that his client lacks credibility and that the confession in the book isn’t real. It’s a completely different situation than you’d normally see in any other criminal trial.”
Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis’ Memoir Is Significant Evidence
5Speaking of the 2019 book, “Compton Street Legend,” Davis places himself inside the vehicle during the 1996 drive-by shooting. He also details his role in obtaining the weapon used in the shooting.
“The book is the most relevant piece of evidence here. I mean, it’s the entire reason in my understanding that he’s been charged,” Mirejovsky said. “And of course, it’s an out-of-court statement against interest, so you know it’s been ruled admissible, and it’s coming in, and it’s going to be presented to the jury.”
The jury will have to decide whether or not the book is a fact in admission and is credible. Mirejovsky said that’s “going to be one of the most important pieces of evidence in this case.”
The Jury Has A Difficult Job Ahead Of Them
5With Tupac’s murder case surrounded by decades of headlines and speculations, Mirejovsky said it would have been nearly impossible to find jurors who have no prior knowledge of the case. Jurors will be expected to set aside what they’ve heard over the years and focus solely on the evidence presented in court, which could prove to be tough.
“Sometimes cases are moved to venues elsewhere because of prejudice in a community. You’re just really not going to move this trial anywhere in the country where people aren’t aware of the case,” he said. “But I’ll say this too – the crime itself carries national and international notoriety, but there isn’t a particularly strong feeling for this case here in Las Vegas; it’s something that happened here. These were not local people that were involved, so it wasn’t just a Vegas story per se, so nobody is going to argue that this isn’t the right jury to hear it.”
He added that while the jury might have “preconceived notions” going into the trial, he also thinks that the jury “should be able to judge this on the facts that are presented.”
Will Suge Knight Testify? The Question On Many Minds
5Talking further about the memoir’s place in the trial, Mirejovsky shared some thoughts on how this could go.
“I already know the defense is going to make the argument that he had a ghostwriter. It was the ghostwriter who wrote it,” he said. “So I expect that there will be a lot of evidence on the subject of who actually wrote this book and did he sign off on it. I think that’s probably going to be one of the best ways that they challenge this, but there is no other corroborating witnesses with the exception of one witness – Suge Knight.”
Knight is currently detained in a prison in California but he is expected to show up to the trial. Will he testify though? It’s been reported that he said he will not, but we won’t know until it happens, or doesn’t happen.
“I predict he’ll plead the fifth. I mean, he’s implicated in it allegedly somehow,” he continued. “So I don’t think they’re going to get much from him. So it’s really back to the book. It’s back to that passage.”
Mirejovsky said he saw somewhere that the defense said he wrote the book to make money and “not to tell the truth” because “he needed cash.” That revelation could make a juror think maybe he did write the book just for the money.
More About Tupac’s Murder
5On September 7, 1996, Tupac was shot after leaving the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon fight at MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip. Knight was driving the car at the time of the shooting. At the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, just a block off the Strip, a car pulled up alongside the one Tupac was in and gunfire erupted. The rapper was rushed to University Medial Center, where he remained until he died on September 13, 1996.
The trial has begun in Las Vegas and is expected to continue for at least four weeks.
For more information about Sam Mirejovsky of Sam & Ash, visit the website.