‘I don’t want to send you to prison’, witness tells Tupac accused in combative testimony

Thirty Years Later, a Reluctant Witness Confronts the Man Accused of Killing Tupac Shakur

Constantvpn.com – The courtroom fell into an unusual tension on Tuesday as a former enforcer for one of hip-hop’s most feared record labels raised his voice, spread his arms, and told the judge he should be treated as a “hostile witness.” James “Mob James” McDonald, a member of the late rapper’s inner circle, spent much of the second day of Duane “Keffe D” Davis’s murder trial refusing to answer questions he felt would convict the defendant. His reluctance was not born of loyalty. It was born, he insisted, of a personal conviction that he did not want to be the instrument sending a man to prison.

Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, faces charges of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur on September 7, 1996. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial, now unfolding three decades after the shooting, represents the most sustained legal attempt yet to resolve one of American popular culture’s most enduring mysteries.

A Witness Who Would Not Look Away

McDonald testified that he was not present in the vehicle when the bullets struck Shakur’s car outside a Las Vegas casino following a Mike Tyson boxing match. Yet he was pressed repeatedly by Davis’s defense attorney, Michael Sanft, to confirm whether he knew who was responsible for the killing. Each time the question came, McDonald pushed back.

“You’re asking me something that wouldn’t be good for him,” McDonald said, pointing across the courtroom at Davis.

He turned his gaze to the accused, who sat in a suit with an expressionless face, and added:

“I don’t want to send you to prison.”

When Sanft continued pressing, McDonald’s frustration boiled over. He raised his voice and arms, declaring that answering certain questions “wouldn’t be good” for the defendant. At one point he looked directly at Davis and said:

“Talk to your lawyer man, this dude is tripping.”

He then addressed the defense attorney with visible exasperation:

“You’re asking me questions that can hurt him.”

McDonald explained that although he was not in the car that night, members of Shakur’s entourage who were present had communicated quickly among themselves about who was responsible. He framed the incident not as an isolated crime but as part of a broader conflict:

“It was a gang war. People were getting hurt. People were being sought.”

He identified Orlando Anderson, Davis’s nephew, and others as targets in that ongoing conflict.

“Orlando (Anderson), him and certain other people were being sought because people wanted to kill them.”

When his testimony concluded, McDonald turned once more to Davis and offered a parting remark that underscored his conflicted position:

“What you are going through brother is what you going through. I don’t want to be a part of it.”

The Shooting and the Code That Kept It Silent

Shakur was 25 years old when he was gunned down on a Las Vegas street. He was transported to a hospital, where he died six days later. In the ambulance, he reportedly refused to speak with a police officer about what had happened, telling the officer instead, “we’ll take care of it.” That single sentence encapsulated the street code that governed the era: gangs held sway over the ’90s hip-hop scene, cooperation with police was considered a betrayal, and deep distrust of authorities ran through Black communities in the aftermath of the Rodney King police brutality case and the Los Angeles riots of 1992.

Prosecutors allege that Davis planned the shooting after his nephew Orlando Anderson was involved in a physical altercation with Shakur in Las Vegas just hours before the drive-by. The theory of the case rests on the premise that Davis believed the attack on his nephew could not “go unanswered.” McDonald, who said he harbored little affection for Davis, appeared torn between that old code and his obligation to testify under oath. He had been warned he could be held in contempt of court if he failed to appear, and he took the stand on Tuesday under that pressure.

Wright’s Testimony and the Defense’s Counter-Narrative

Also taking the stand on Tuesday was Reggie Wright Jr., a member of Shakur’s security detail who had served as a Compton police officer before joining the entourage. In 1997, Wright became general manager of Death Row Records, the label that represented Shakur and was run by Suge Knight. Days before trial began, Davis publicly suggested that the evidence pointed instead toward Wright. Sanft questioned Wright about his role protecting Knight, who was seated in the vehicle alongside Shakur at the time of the shooting, and about how his responsibilities expanded after Knight departed the label.

“And then you became general manager,” Sanft observed, noting that Wright assumed control of Death Row Records once Knight was no longer involved.

The trial continues as prosecutors and defense teams work to determine whether a gang leader orchestrated a retaliatory killing or whether the evidence supports an alternative account. For Shakur’s family, fans, and a music industry still shaped by the era’s violence, the outcome will carry weight far beyond the courtroom.