Diddy named in Tupac trial witness list as prosecutors claim rapper’s murder was an ‘act of revenge’: Live updates

Chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal named Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in his opening statement for the prosecution, linking the disgraced mogul to Duane Davis in the 1990s.

Palal said that Davis acted as ‘unofficial security for Sean Combs and his artists when they came out west, in order specifically to ensure there are no problems with Mob Piru and Death Row Records.’

Tupac Shakur was signed to Death Row Records at the time he was shot in 1996 and was affiliated with the Mob Piru gang.

Combs was named on a list of 200 possible witnesses in the trial. He is serving a 50-month sentence at Fort Dix in New Jersey after being convicted of federal prostitution charges last year.

Davis is on trial for murder with use of a deadly weapon in connection with Shakur’s death. The trial continues in Las Vegas.

Court was back in session after an hour long lunch break.

A new witness, Brent Becker, was sworn in via Zoom. Becker is a retired police officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

In 1996, Becker was a detective with the homicide unit.

The court is in recess until 1.15pm PST (4.15pm EST).

Prosecutors called Ingrid Stokes to the stand.

Stokes was in Las Vegas the evening of September 7, 1996, when Tupac Shakur was killed.

The witness testified that she and some friends were in the city for the Mike Tyson fight that weekend.

The group spotted Suge Knight and Shakur in their BMW after getting into their own car to leave the MGM Grand parking lot.

Stokes said one of her friends knew Knight, and when the group pulled up alongside them, the Death Row Records boss invited them to Club 662 and instructed them to follow his car.

She told jurors that as her friend was preparing to switch seats with her so she could drive, she heard multiple gunshots. Stokes said all of her friends immediately ducked.

She testified that their vehicle almost collided with the BMW as they tried to flee, and that they did not follow the shooters.

Garry Dale, a former Las Vegas Metro Police Department officer, recalled his interaction with the rapper as he rode in an ambulance to the hospital after he was shot.

‘I was trying to talk to him to find out what had happened, gather information to see who had fired at them,’ he told prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo.

‘He was still talking, and I was trying to convince him to tell me the name of whoever his assailants were,’ the former officer continued.

Dale testified that Tupac Shakur responded to the effect of: ‘No, we’ll take care of it.’

He was excused after a quick cross-examination by the defense. Michael Sanft asked Dale if he had written a report about his initial traffic stop of Suge Knight and Shakur’s vehicle that night, to which the cop replied: ‘No.’

A member of the District Attorney’s office sat next to the Shakur family in the courtroom.

The family was advised not to say anything out loud as members of the media were nearby.

The defense finished its opening statement and the court took a 15-minute recess.

When court resumed, the prosecution called its first witness: former Las Vegas Metro Police Department officer Garry Dale.

Dale said he was assigned to a bike team on the Strip in September 1996.

Defense lawyer Michael Sanft said that his client Duane Davis was known to ‘bull****’ and the state relied heavily on questionable statements made by the defendant.

Sanft said that the detective who worked on the case did not work hard enough to verify his client’s accounts in his 2019 memoir. ‘He treats that book like it’s fact,’ he said.

Davis ‘was never charged for any of what he said during that time period, and it’s because they knew he was full of crap,’ Sanft continued. ‘Otherwise, they would have.’

‘The state cannot prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt the claim that Keffe had anything to do with first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon,’ Sanft said as he finished his opening statements and referred to his client by nickname.

Jurors took notes during opening statements, and there was no visible reaction from the gallery.

A few people were heard chuckling as audio of Duane Davis imitating women screaming at Tupac Shakur was played.

Davis was noticeably still through the first few minutes of the defense’s opening statement and only moved to pour himself a cup of water.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft began his opening statement by questioning the evidence prosecutors had to link Davis to Tupac Shakur’s murder.

‘It’s up to you to determine what the facts are,’ he said, challenging the investigative work that the three detectives did on the rapper’s case at the time.