A Las Vegas jury on Monday found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, bringing a conviction in one of the most enduring unsolved cases in hip-hop history.
Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in connection with Shakur’s death. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before finding him guilty of murder with a deadly weapon following weeks of testimony.
Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight in Las Vegas. A white Cadillac pulled alongside the vehicle at a red light and its occupants opened fire.
Shakur was struck several times, while Knight was also wounded. The 25-year-old rapper died from his injuries six days later.
Prosecutors linked the shooting to an altercation earlier that evening at the MGM Grand involving Shakur and Orlando Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips.
They argued that Davis helped organise a retaliatory attack following the confrontation, obtained the firearm used in the shooting and occupied the front passenger seat of the Cadillac.
Anderson, who denied involvement in Shakur’s killing, was never charged and died in an unrelated shooting in 1998.
Central to the prosecution’s case were statements Davis himself made over several years. During a 2008 police interview, he acknowledged being inside the Cadillac when Shakur was shot. He later discussed the killing publicly and wrote about it in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
Prosecutors argued that the accounts demonstrated Davis’ involvement in organising the attack even if he did not personally fire the shots.
“He’s the shot caller — in every instance, in every iteration, he’s the leader of the South Side Crips,” prosecutor Binu Palal told jurors.
Davis’ defence maintained that he had exaggerated his role to enhance his reputation and profit from media appearances and his memoir. Attorney Michael Sanft also highlighted the absence of physical evidence directly linking Davis to the killing and questioned whether prosecutors had proved that he ordered the attack.
“There’s no proof,” Sanft told the jury.
The defence arguments failed to persuade jurors, who returned the guilty verdict after less than three hours of deliberations.
Members of Shakur’s family became emotional as the verdict was announced. His sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, embraced members of the prosecution team while other relatives cried in the courtroom.
Davis remained largely impassive and indicated before leaving court that he intended to appeal.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13.