A Las Vegas jury found Duane 'Keffe D' Davis guilty of orchestrating the murder of hip hop artist Tupac Shakur after nine days of testimony. The jury reached a verdict in less than three hours in a case that had remained unsolved for nearly 30 years. Davis was convicted of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and faces a potential life sentence.
Tupac Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996, and died in a hospital six days later at the age of 25. He was an acclaimed rap artist, activist, and actor, selling over 75 million records worldwide, many of which were released posthumously.
Davis, 63, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, is the only person ever charged in connection with Shakur’s murder. During closing arguments, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal stated that Davis acquired a gun and sought out Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after an altercation involving Davis’ nephew earlier that evening.
Palal noted that while Davis’ accounts of the events changed over time, a consistent detail was his admission of being inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired. Davis is the last surviving individual among the four men prosecutors allege were in the Cadillac during the shooting.
Despite long-standing suspicions about Davis’ involvement, he could not be charged until he publicly shared his version of events through media appearances and a memoir, which, along with recordings of his meetings with investigators, formed the basis of the prosecution's case. Davis has indicated plans to appeal the verdict and had pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder using a deadly weapon.