Former Compton gang member Mob James made it clear he wasn't interested in helping send an old rival to prison while taking the stand in Duane "Keffe D" Davis' trial over the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.
James McDonald, better known as Mob James, took the stand Tuesday in Las Vegas and repeatedly resisted questions about the decades-old gang conflict surrounding Shakur's death.
"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," McDonald said.
McDonald, a former Mob Piru member who worked security for Death Row Records, said he only appeared because he could be held in contempt if he refused to testify.
Things became particularly tense when Davis' defense attorney Michael Sanft repeatedly asked whether McDonald saw the person who shot Shakur.
"I don't want to send him to prison even though we don't like each other," McDonald said.
However, McDonald was more forthcoming when questioned about his own mentality during that period.
The defense brought up an old rumor that Shakur had once knocked McDonald out. Asked what his response would have been if that actually happened, McDonald didn't hesitate.
"I'd have killed him," he said.
McDonald explained that his answer reflected how he lived at the time and said he had previously discussed the subject publicly.
"I'm being honest with you and everybody else. I said it on my podcast show," he said. "Him, Suge, and my brother — I’d have shot all three of them if he touched me."
When asked why, McDonald responded, "That's what I was back then."
He further explained that maintaining respect while living that lifestyle meant retaliation wasn't optional if someone publicly humiliated him.
"You would have to go back home and fight everybody that called you a punk," he said. "There's some rules that you roll with and some rules you just got to handle. Certain things need to be dealt with, adjusted, living that life."
McDonald added, "When I was living that life, it wasn't no ifs, ands or buts."
Davis, 63, is accused of orchestrating Shakur's Sept. 7, 1996 shooting following an altercation in which Shakur, Suge Knight and others attacked Davis' nephew Orlando Anderson at the MGM Grand. Davis denies ordering Shakur's killing.
Despite acknowledging he knew who was and wasn't present during the shooting, McDonald refused to identify anyone as questioning intensified.
"You're asking me something that's gonna hurt this dude!" he told Sanft.
McDonald eventually declared, "I'm not answering nothing," before turning toward Davis and telling him, "Cover your lawyer, man. That dude is trippin'."
"I'm not gonna send him to prison," McDonald added. "You are."
