Las Vegas prosecutors face the grim reality of explaining a drive-by shooting to a jury born after the invention of the smartphone.
The trial for the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur has begun in Las Vegas. Prosecutors are struggling to explain obsolete technology to a modern jury. The judge has warned lawyers against wasting court time authenticating vintage electronics.
A downtown Las Vegas electronics repairman is enjoying an unexpected windfall this week. The district attorney just paid him triple his usual rate to restore nine obsolete Motorola pagers. The county desperately needed the plastic devices to power on in court.
They are crucial exhibits in a murder trial that finally opened on Tuesday. The state is trying former gang leader Duane Davis for the 1996 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors say Davis commanded the operation.
The War of the Roses concluded more swiftly than this police investigation. The wheels of justice generally grind slow, but here they have rusted entirely to the axle. Humanity loves to revisit its old grudges.
As we noted when this delayed spectacle had its theatrical premiere last year, time alters the mood. The initial thrill of a cold-case arrest has faded into administrative exhaustion. Now, the state faces the grim task of explaining a 1996 crime to a modern jury.
"We spent three hours this morning defining a compact disc," said prosecutor Martin Vance. "Half the jury thought a pager was a medical device. We are essentially teaching an archaeology class with higher stakes."
A vintage performance
Davis sat quietly at the defense table. He watched the prosecution wheel a heavy, glass-fronted television into the room. The state plans to play security footage on original equipment to preserve the atmosphere.
Defense attorney Sarah Jenkins argued the passage of time makes a fair trial impossible. She pointed out that most of the original witnesses have entirely forgotten the nineties. Others have monetised their hazy memories into true-crime podcasts.
"My client is accused of being an on-site commander," Jenkins told the court. "The site in question is now a boutique cupcake bakery. The street layout changed three mayors ago."
Jenkins also filed a motion to suppress any mention of dial-up internet. She argued the screeching modem noises would only confuse the younger jurors. The judge denied the request but offered to provide earplugs.
The court has urged both sides to speed up their historical chronologies. "We have a severe backlog," Judge Thomas Wright warned the room. "We cannot spend a month authenticating a Sony Walkman."
Proceedings resume tomorrow morning. The prosecution plans to call a cultural anthropologist. They need an expert witness to explain why someone in 1996 might leave their house without a GPS tracker.
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