Tupac Shakur murder trial: You better treat me as a hostile witness, Suge Knight associate testifies – latest updates

The hearing has now ended for the day, and Judge Carli Kierney said proceedings would begin again at 1 pm Las Vegas time tomorrow.

James Wright Jr, a former Compton police officer who later led security for Suge Knight's Death Row Records, was asked on the stand if he had anything to do with Tupac's murder. “Absolutely not,†he replied.

James Wright Jr, a former Compton police officer who later led security for Suge Knight's Death Row Records, said the called his father, a Compton police officer, a few times the night of Shakur's shooting, telling him what had happened and warning him that it might affect gang dynamics in Compton.

Based on what he had heard that night, Wright testified, he understood that Shakur and Knight had “they got into it in at the MGM with some guys from the Southside Crips†and “There's going to be trouble in Compton.â€

The next witness is Reggie Wright Jr., the former Death Row Records security chief that James McDonald, the previous witness, mentioned in his testimony.

Wright testified that he, like his father, was a police officer in Compton, and that he took a medical retirement from the police department in 1996. He described himself as “head of security†for Death Row Records, a role he held even during his last few years as a police officer. Death Row Records' founder, Marion “Suge†Knight, a man he had grown up with since elementary school.

He and Knight had grown up about two blocks away from each other, in what was considered “Mob Piru†gang territory by the time Wright was a teenager, he said.

He had “heard of†Duane “Keefe D†Davis while he was a Compton police officer, but he did not know him personally, Wright said.

“At one point he was known as a crackhead, but then later on Keefe was known as a drug dealer…[I] didn't really enforce on the level of narcotics he was working,†Wright said.

McDonald confirmed once again that he had been subpoenaed and ordered to appear at the trial in Nevada.

“All that running and living a different life, I ain't doing it. So I agreed to come,†McDonald said.

“Treat me as a hostile witness,†he repeated. “I'm not finna send him to prison. You are,†he told Davis' lawyer.

“You're asking me something that wouldn't be good for him,†Davis said again.

A former associate of Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight, James McDonald, grew heated on the stand under cross-examination from defense attorney Michael Sanft, and told the court that he was worried that the attorney's questions would hurt his own client, Duane “Keefe D†Davis, who is on trial for Tupac Shakur's murder.

“Do I answer this?†McDonald exclaimed at one point, looking towards the judge.

“You asking something that's going to hurt this dude,†McDonald then told Sanft, declining again to go into detail about the tensions in Compton in the weeks after the evening when Davis' nephew Orlando Anderson was in a Las Vegas hotel, and Tupac Shakur was then shot.

“Let me stop,†McDonald went on, putting both hands behind his head and blowing out a breath.

“When we got back to Compton, it was a gang war. People were getting hurt,†McDonald went on. “People were getting hurt. People was being sought. People were looking for certain individulas from his neighborhood as well they did mine. But Orlando, him [gesturing to Davis] and certain other people were being soughted, because people wanted to kill them.â€

“Sure. Were they the only ones that they wanted to kill?†Sanft asked.

“I'don't even want to open this in here–No, they weren't the only ones. It's his neighborhood in particular. But they were the main subjects of a gang war. They was in the middle,†McDonald said.

“…they were involved in what?†Sanft

“In the murder of Tupac,†McDonald exclaimed. He then waved his arms in apparent frustration at Davis' attorney's questions.

“Talk to your lawyer, man, this dude is tripping,†McDonald said, refusing to clarify who exactly was present at Tupac's shooting and then told people in Compton what had happened.

Asked again about the tension between Compton factions after Shakur's shooting, this time by Michael Sanft, Duane Davis' attorney, McDonald once again refused to go into detail.

“I don't want to send him to prison, even though we don't like each other,†McDonald said, apparently pointing to Duane ‘Keefe D' Davis, who is sitting in the courtroom directly behind his attorney. “I don't want to send you to prison,†McDonald repeated.

A reaction shot of Davis on the courtroom livestream showed no reaction from a grim-faced Davis.

“I changed my life. I'm raising my grandkids, teaching them never to be like their Pawpaw, and here I am, explaining to people what I used to be, and I'm not proud of that, I'm not proud of that at all,†McDonald went on. “You're asking me questions that can hurt him, and like I told them, I'm trying to avoid to answer the questions.â€

James McDonald, the former associate of Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight, is now being cross-examined by a defense attorney for Duane “Keefe D†Davis.

McDonald, who said he was working as head of security for Knight's Club 662 on the night Shakur was shot, is now answering questions about the size of the club and where the Las Vegas police were in relation to the club—posted outside, not inside, and not there at the request of Reggie Wright, then head of security for Death Row Records, McDonald said.

Asked how many people were on his payroll that night, McDonald said. “Y'all do paperwork differently from we did,†prompting another laugh from the courtroom. “Our paperwork was in cash money. Our paperwork was what they call under the table. We had at least 30, 40 of my homeboys there.†They were separate from the security people Reggie Wright Jr. hired, McDonald said. “My security did what they ain't going to do…The police going to walk you out of there. We going to drag you out of there.â€

McDonald confirmed he was not present when Shakur was shot. “People that went to the scene, and everybody said Tupac was talking, so everybody came back to the club saying he was going to be alright.â€

After Shakur's shooting, in Compton neighborhoods, “It was tension in the air for quite a long time,†said James McDonald, a 61-year-old former associate of Death Row Records founder Suge Knight, who was injured in the shooting that killed Tupac Shakur. “Until I guess both sides said, and he might agree, just said let that shit go.â€

“It wasn't really our beef. This was between Suge Knight and Keefe D.â€

Duane “Keefe D†Davis, who has been charged in Shakur's murder, has been watching McDonald's testimony closely from the courtroom, and frowning.

“People put theyselves in situations, like myself, I'm guilty as everybody else, like msyelf, I put myself in the situation to protect something and somebody who didn't have nothing to do with me. I did it for a paycheck. I did it on some just because. I'm older now. I get it. But we did things for all the wrong reasons, at that time, in them days.â€

Pivoting from McDonald's refusal to answer questions about Orlando Anderson, chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal said he would not asked McDonald if it was true that Tupac Shakur “knocked you out one time.â€

“I'd have killed him,†McDonald testified. “I'm being honest with you and everybody else. I said it on my podcast show. Him, Suge, and my brother, I'd have shot all three of them if he touched me. That's how I was living. That's what I was back then.â€

“You don't have a choice,†McDonald went on. “You would have to go back home and fight everybody that called you a punk.â€

“When I was living that life, it wasn't no if ands or buts, it wasn't no ‘oh you get a pass,' no, I would have shot him. To be honest,'†McDonald said.

Minutes after testifying that it was “impossible†that Reggie Wright Jr was involved in the murder of Tupac Shakur, James McDonald, a former associate of Death Row Records executive Suge Knight, refused to go into detail about the beating of Orlando Anderson at the MGM Hotel, and how that beating fueled ongoing tensions between rival factions in Compton.

“Me or anybody else bringing up the dead is wrong,†McDonald said.

“I told every attorney that tried to get me in here, you'd better treat me as a hostile witness. And I think that's where I'm about to know now, because you're asking me questions–I can't answer those questions.â€

Right after Shakur's shooting, McDonald said he immediaely left Las Vegas for California. “We knew we were going to have neighborhood issues,†he said. “It's time to go and protect your home front. Like the other side was being prepared and was prepared to do things because Orlando got beat up in there ,and that's something that you don't tolerate.â€

Asked why Orlando was targeted in Las Vegas, McDonald said: “I'm aware of a lot of things, things that was going on. People ain't talked about it in 30 years. Today ain't one of them. I don't mean to be funny. But, here's the things: a lot of things happened that night, a lot of things happened weeks and weeks after that night. Me or anybody else bringing up the dead is wrong. A lot of people got hurt behind this situation in itself.â€

“Living the life in how we lived in Compton is one thing. You bring back all of the guys who made it, like me, I'm 61 years old now, to rehash and relive this situation.â€

It's worth noting that Orlando Anderson, the nephew of Duane “Keefe D” Davis, whose beating prosecutors say prompted Shakur's killing, has been dead since 1998.

A prosecutor just asked James McDonald, a 61-year-old former associate of Death Row Records executive Suge Knight, if Reggie Wright Jr, the former head of security for Death Row Records, was involved in Shakur's killing.

Reggie Wright Jr was with McDonald at club 662 when they found out about Shakur's shooting the night of 7 September, McDonald said.

“Did it appear to you in any way that Reggie Wright Jr was coordinating the murder of Tupac Shakur?†chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal asked.

“Impossible,†McDonald said.

“And I say this because you're aware there have been some conspiracy theories that Reggier Wright Jr. is responsible for the murder of Tupac,†Palal said.

“And it's so not true,†McDonald said, emphasizing that he had known Wright for decades and known his father. “…If Reggie Killed Tupac, than Death Row is over with. Tupac was the money source. Tupac was that guy on Death Row. So, it's–Reggie would have had a problem if he did that. And Suge, I truly believe, Suge would have opened his mouth if Reggie betrayed him like that. So, people say what they want to say.â€

McDonald said he had been concerned on the night of 7 September about individuals creating problems at Club 662, and “with Crips, period.â€

During McDonald's testimony,

That night, Reggie Wright Jr., the security chief for Death Row Records, stayed at club 662 to “watch me†while others went to the Mike Tyson fight, McDonald testified.

“People was coming back and explaining that Tupac and Suge just got shot. Everyone was in an uproar.â€

“Suge came back with a little bandage on his head…He was grazed, a little scar, nothing penetrating.â€

That night, people thought Tupac was going to be okay, and they kept partying, McDonald said.