Opening statements began Monday in the Las Vegas, United States, trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is charged with first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur. The case was one of several music law developments this week, including a ruling on the Notorious B.I.G. estate’s catalog revenue and a lawsuit filed by Ellie Goulding.
Tupac murder trial opens
Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was killed in 1996, a jury trial is underway in Las Vegas over one of the most high-profile unsolved killings in American music. The drive-by shooting that killed Tupac has long been among the country’s unresolved cases. Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested in September 2023 and charged with first-degree murder over allegations that he orchestrated the attack.
When the trial began Monday, the names of Notorious B.I.G. and Sean “Diddy” Combs were raised early. Prosecutors played secret recordings of Davis discussing the shooting and cited a memoir in which he discussed his role in the attack, telling jurors they would hear evidence “from Duane Davis himself.”
Defense attorney Michael W. Sanft argued that the book was fiction designed to sell copies and could not be corroborated with real evidence. At one point, Sanft displayed a PowerPoint screen that read “Bulls-t.”
“Keffe D was known to do this,” Sanft told jurors, pointing to the screen. “What you’re going to find is that the state cannot prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt the claim that Keffe had anything to do with a first-degree murder.”
Other music law developments
- Wayne Barrow, former manager of Notorious B.I.G., won a key ruling in a legal battle with the rapper’s widow Faith Evans over revenue from the sale of the late hip-hop artist’s music catalog.
- Ellie Goulding filed a lawsuit in a United Kingdom court alleging that her former managers at TaP Management never disclosed that Live Nation held a controlling stake in the firm.
- Round Hill Music sued Suno and Anthropic over accusations that the artificial intelligence (AI) companies stole thousands of songs to train their models and might owe more than $1 billion in damages. Round Hill does not want to settle.
- Four siblings who say they were abused by Michael Jackson hit a roadblock in their child sex trafficking lawsuit when a judge ruled the case must be handled in private arbitration.
- A federal judge ruled that Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation must face trial in a lawsuit filed by a former cameraman who says he was forced to watch the rapper have sex in a car.
- Selena Gomez was sued for fraud by investors in her mental health startup Wondermind. Her attorney vowed to fight accusations he called “completely meritless.”
- Chris Brown moved to overturn a $13 million jury verdict won by an ex-housekeeper mauled by his dog, with his lawyers arguing it was fueled by improper mentions of his 2008 assault of Rihanna.
- Ne-Yo was hit with a new lawsuit claiming his “vicious and dangerous” dog attacked a woman delivering a package at his Atlanta home.
- Ronald Isley and the estate of Rudolph Isley reached a settlement to end a lawsuit they had fought since 2023 over trademark rights to the “The Isley Brothers” band name.
- A judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Downtown Music that claimed it dropped a YouTube licensing partner as a “sacrifice” to help win approval of its Universal Music Group (UMG) merger.
- A judge ruled the Kennedy Center must reimburse jazz musician Chuck Redd for a failed lawsuit over his decision to pull out of a concert after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the building.
- Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner won a ruling allowing them to continue suing Ray J for defamation over his statements claiming the mother-daughter duo were facing a criminal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) investigation.
- Sean “Diddy” Combs is countersuing Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, claiming the producer stole documentary footage and sold it to Netflix for 50 Cent’s series on the mogul’s downfall.
- Merlin tapped Jon Glass, a longtime digital legal executive at Warner Music Group, as its new general counsel, after Neil Miller departed in January for a legal role at YouTube Music.
- Latin superstar Romeo Santos sued his longtime accounting and business management firm, claiming in his lawsuit that its “gross negligence” left him with unpaid tax bills and cost him millions.
- A man who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a fight at a Luke Bryan concert reached a settlement to end a lawsuit claiming Live Nation did not do enough to protect fans at the “rowdy” show.
- The owner of the Peanuts theme song and other Charlie Brown music settled a series of lawsuits it filed earlier this year over uncleared social media uses of Vince Guaraldi’s jazz tracks.
