On the anniversary of Tupac’s death, there is still no sense of justice

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP

It took nearly three decades to the day for someone to be held accountable for the death of Tupac Shakur.

But the conviction of Duane “Keffe D” Davis was, at best, a mere illusion of justice for those who have spent the years since mourning the future the rapper was denied.

“Justice is good, but it seems hollow, you know?” said P. Frank Williams, who produced a 2017 documentary series for A&E about Shakur’s murder which touched on Davis’ alleged involvement. Sunday marks 30 years since Shakur, then 25 and at the height of his career, died after a drive- by shooting.

Prior to his death Shakur cemented himself as one of rap’s biggest stars after singles such as “I Get Around,” “Dear Mama,” “California Love” and “How Do You Want It” garnered both critical and commercial success.

He also found fame as an actor in films such as “Juice,” “Poetic Justice” and “Above the Rim.”

Death didn’t stop his stardom as he left a trove of recordings, some of which became posthumous albums. Three films he costarred in — “Bullet,” “Gridlock’d” and “Gang Related” — were also released after his death.

Shakur, it was believed, was only getting started. Thirty years later, a legal resolution has proven to be different than an emotional one.

Jeff Pearlman , author of the book “Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur,” said he is still angry at how senseless Shakur’s death was — especially given who he could have become.

“He wasn’t just an artist,” the writer said. “He carried this ethos, speaking up, fighting authority, fighting the power.”

Steve Marcus/AFP/Getty Images

Shakur was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 7, 1996. Prosecutors accused Davis of riding in the white Cadillac from which gunfire erupted and hit the BMW being driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight with Shakur in the front seat as his passenger.

Knight was only grazed by a bullet, but Shakur was hit multiple times including by a bullet that tore through one of his lungs.

Shakur died six days later.

The other alleged occupants of the Cadillac included Davis’ nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Deandre “Big Dre” Smith and a driver who has been identified in news reports, per the police investigation and Davis’ book, as Terrence “Bubble Up” Brown.

Anderson, whose fight with Shakur earlier in the evening is believed to have sparked the shooting, denied being involved in the killing in an interview with CNN prior to his death in 1998 in a gang-related shooting. Smith and Brown have also since died, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police have said.

Davis is the only person ever charged in the murder.

Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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“I think the situation in this case was unique. I mean, this is pretty much Duane Davis outing himself and putting the spotlight on him on what otherwise would’ve been a shelved cold case murder unsolved,” attorney Tre Lovell, who has been a litigator in high-profile cases including ones involving Justin Bieber and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, said.

Neama Rahmani, who has appeared on CNN as a legal expert, added it’s not common for high-interest murders to go “unsolved for so many years.”

Much of the case against Davis centered on a book he co-authored, titled “Compton Street Legend: Notorious Keffe D’s Street-Level Accounts of Tupac and Biggie Murders, Death Row Origins, Suge Knight, Puffy Combs, and Crooked Cops” and interviews he had with law enforcement in 2008 and 2009 under a proffer agreement, in which a suspect gives potentially useful information to police under the condition that police cannot use it against them, with some exceptions.

Also often referred to as “Queen for a Day,” proffers often precede a more formal immunity grant.

In his book, Davis described his role in the fatal shooting, but his attorney claimed in court that he wasn’t actually involved in writing his book and lied about details to help sell copies. He was convicted of first-degree murder last month.

The desire by Shakur’s friends, family and fans to see someone held accountable for the rapper’s death has not waned over the years especially given that Shakur’s stardom grew even larger posthumously.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Pearlman believes Shakur would have racked up “multiple Academy Awards” by this point had his trajectory continued, acknowledging too that ages “25 and 55 are worlds apart.”

“But zero percent chance he’s sitting back on a stack of money watching ICE just grab brown people off streets,” the author said. “No way in hell.”

Williams, who covered the death of Shakur for the Los Angeles Times, agrees that the musician’s influence went far beyond his career.

“I really think he would have ran for office and made a change in the community. So it feels like he was robbed,” Williams said. “The killing of him robbed us of his talent. And I think for his family, the justice is just way too late.”

Steve Marcus/Pool/Reuters

A 30-year wait for justice in Tupac’s killing ends with a murder conviction in under 3 hours

Though the Las Vegas trial is over, there is still pending legal action in Shakur’s murder case. Shakur’s stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur filed a wrongful death suit earlier this year against Davis and other unnamed defendants, saying in a complaint that there remain “individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes.”

“This action seeks to change that,” the complaint said.

But by Maurice Shakur’s own admission, true justice will always be elusive.

“The justice I would like, I will never get,” he told the BBC before Davis’ trial began

“I want my brother back,” he said.

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/拉斯维加斯评论报/美联社

图帕克·沙库尔之死，时隔近三十年才有人为此承担责任。

但对杜安·“凯夫·D”·戴维斯的定罪，充其量只是正义的假象，对于那些多年来一直哀悼这位说唱歌手被剥夺的未来的人来说，更是如此。

“正义固然是好事，但感觉很空洞，你知道吗？”P·弗兰克·威廉姆斯说道。他曾为A&E电视台制作了一部2017年关于图帕克·沙库尔谋杀案的纪录片，其中涉及了戴维斯涉嫌参与此案。周日是沙库尔遇害30周年纪念日，当时年仅25岁，正值事业巅峰的他，在一次驾车枪击事件中丧生。

在去世之前，沙库尔凭借《I Get Around》、《Dear Mama》、《California Love》和《How Do You Want It》等单曲获得了评论界和商业上的双重成功，巩固了他作为说唱界最耀眼明星之一的地位。

他还凭借《果汁》、《诗意正义》和《篮板之上》等电影中的表演而声名鹊起。

死亡并没有阻止他的明星光环，他留下了大量的录音作品，其中一些后来发行了遗作专辑。他参演的三部电影——《子弹》、《生死时速》和《黑帮关系》——也在他去世后上映。

人们认为，沙库尔的职业生涯才刚刚开始。三十年后，法律的解决方式与情感的解决方式截然不同。

《只有上帝才能审判我：图帕克·沙库尔的多重人生》一书的作者杰夫·珀尔曼表示，他仍然对沙库尔之死的毫无意义感到愤怒——尤其是考虑到他本可以成为怎样的人。

“他不仅仅是一位艺术家，”这位作家说。“他秉持着这种精神，敢于发声，挑战权威，对抗强权。”

史蒂夫·马库斯/法新社/盖蒂图片社

1996 年 9 月 7 日，沙库尔在内华达州拉斯维加斯被枪击。检察官指控戴维斯当时乘坐一辆白色凯迪拉克，枪声从凯迪拉克中响起，子弹击中了死囚唱片公司联合创始人马里恩·“苏格”·奈特驾驶的宝马车，沙库尔当时坐在副驾驶座上。

奈特只是被子弹擦伤，而沙库尔身中数枪，其中一颗子弹穿透了他的肺部。

沙库尔六天后去世。

据称凯迪拉克车上的其他乘客包括戴维斯的侄子奥兰多·“宝贝莱恩”·安德森、德安德烈·“大德雷”·史密斯，以及一名司机，根据警方调查和戴维斯的书中报道，该司机被确认为特伦斯·“泡泡”·布朗。

据信，安德森当晚早些时候与沙库尔发生的冲突引发了枪击事件。在1998年死于一起与帮派有关的枪击事件之前，安德森在接受CNN采访时否认参与了这起谋杀案。拉斯维加斯大都会警察局表示，史密斯和布朗也已去世。

戴维斯是唯一一个因这起谋杀案而被起诉的人。

Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

图帕克经常谈到自己英年早逝。这也是他的谋杀案至今仍令我们难以释怀的原因之一。

“我认为此案的情况很特殊。我的意思是，这基本上是杜安·戴维斯主动暴露自己，并将聚光灯投向了他，否则这起悬案就会被搁置，成为一桩未破的冷案，”曾代理过包括贾斯汀·比伯和“创智赢家”明星凯文·奥利里在内的多起备受瞩目案件的律师特雷·洛弗尔说道。

曾以法律专家身份出现在 CNN 上的内玛·拉赫马尼补充说，备受关注的谋杀案“多年未破”并不常见。

对戴维斯的指控主要集中在他与人合著的一本书上，书名为《康普顿街头传奇：臭名昭著的凯夫·D 对图帕克和比吉谋杀案、死囚牢房起源、苏格·奈特、帕菲·库姆斯和腐败警察的街头叙述》，以及他在 2008 年和 2009 年根据认罪协议接受执法部门的讯问。根据认罪协议，嫌疑人向警方提供可能有用的信息，但警方不得将其用作对付嫌疑人，但也有一些例外情况。

这种提议也常被称为“一日女王”，通常是正式豁免权授予的前奏。

戴维斯在书中描述了他在致命枪击案中的角色，但他的律师在法庭上声称，他实际上并未参与该书的写作，而是为了提高销量而捏造细节。上个月，他被判一级谋杀罪成立。

多年来，沙库尔的朋友、家人和粉丝一直希望有人为这位说唱歌手的死负责，这种愿望丝毫没有减弱，尤其是在沙库尔去世后，他的名气反而更大了。

克里斯·皮泽洛/Invision/美联社

珀尔曼认为，如果沙库尔的发展轨迹继续下去，他现在应该已经获得了“多个奥斯卡奖”，他也承认“25 岁和 55 岁是截然不同的年龄”。

“但他坐在大把钞票上，看着移民执法局随意抓捕街上的有色人种，这种可能性为零，”作者说。“绝对不可能。”

曾为《洛杉矶时报》报道沙库尔去世的威廉姆斯也认为，这位音乐家的影响力远远超出了他的职业生涯。

“我真的觉得他会竞选公职，为社区带来改变。所以感觉他被剥夺了一切，”威廉姆斯说。“他的遇害让我们失去了他的才华。而且我认为对他的家人来说，正义来得太晚了。”

史蒂夫·马库斯/Pool/路透社

图帕克遇害案历经30年，正义终于在不到3小时内得以伸张，凶手被定罪。

尽管拉斯维加斯的审判已经结束，但图帕克·沙库尔谋杀案仍有未决的法律诉讼。今年早些时候，沙库尔的继兄莫里斯·“莫普雷姆”·沙库尔对戴维斯和其他未具名的被告提起了非正常死亡诉讼，他在诉状中称，仍有“参与图帕克谋杀案的人，30年来一直逍遥法外”。

“此举旨在改变这种状况，”起诉书称。

但正如莫里斯·沙库尔自己所承认的，真正的正义永远难以企及。

“我想要的公正，永远也得不到了，”他在戴维斯受审前告诉BBC。

“我想让我的兄弟回来，”他说。