Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot on a Las Vegas street, a jury has convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in the rapper’s death.
Jurors returned the guilty verdict Monday after deliberating for less than three hours. The verdict followed nine days of testimony in a case that relied heavily on Davis’ own accounts of the 1996 shooting.
Davis, 63, did not testify during the trial.
Prosecutors did not have to prove Davis was the person who fired the shots that killed Shakur. Instead, they argued that Davis organized the attack, obtained the gun and helped put the shooting into motion, making him legally responsible for the killing under Nevada law.
Davis is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13 and faces up to life in prison. After the verdict, he told the court that he plans to appeal. The judge said the appeals process would come after sentencing.
The shooting that killed Tupac Shakur
Shakur was riding in a BMW with Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled alongside their vehicle and someone opened fire.
Knight was wounded but survived.
Shakur died six days later. He was 25.
Prosecutors tied the shooting to a confrontation earlier that night at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson fight.
Shakur, Knight and others had attacked Orlando Anderson, Davis’ nephew, amid an ongoing gang dispute. Prosecutors said Shakur’s shooting later that night was retaliation for that confrontation.
Davis’ own words became central to the case
For decades, no one was charged with Shakur’s murder. During that time, Davis increasingly spoke about his presence during the shooting and his role in the events surrounding it.
In a recorded police interview in 2008, Davis said he was riding in the Cadillac involved in the attack. He also described a gun being passed toward the back seat before the shooting.
Davis later discussed the killing publicly and wrote about it in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”
His various accounts did not line up in every detail, something prosecutors acknowledged during the trial. They argued, however, that one important part of his story remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside the Cadillac used in the attack.
Those statements, made years before he was charged with Shakur’s murder, ultimately became a major part of the prosecution’s case against him.
Defense argued Davis invented the story
Defense attorney Michael Sanft challenged the reliability of Davis’ statements and argued that his client had reasons to fabricate his involvement.
The defense maintained that Davis initially told investigators the story while facing an unrelated narcotics case and later continued talking about Shakur’s death because the attention brought him money and publicity.
Sanft also pointed jurors to inconsistencies between Davis’ different accounts and details that conflicted with testimony presented during the trial.
The jury ultimately rejected the defense’s argument.
