Duane “Keffe D” Davis, former head of the Compton gang South Side Crips, has been convicted in the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, one of hip-hop’s most notorious killings, finally putting an end to nearly three decades of mystery.
After less than three hours of deliberations, a 12-member Las Vegas jury convicted Davis, 63, of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
The conviction is the first guilty verdict in the decades-old case and exposes Davis to a potential life sentence without parole.
Davis, who pled not guilty, said after the verdict that he “intends to appeal this matter” to the judge.
The courtroom was filled with an emotional reaction to the verdict. Tupac’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur cried as the decision was read, and Davis’ son covered his face with one hand. Several people in the gallery wiped away tears and hugged members of the prosecution team.
Much of the case against Davis came from statements he made over the years, including stories in his 2019 memoir and recordings of conversations with investigators.
In those accounts, Davis acknowledged being in the white Cadillac that fired the shots and said he provided the weapon used in the attack.
The prosecution said Davis’ stories had changed over the years, but one thing had stayed the same — his presence in the vehicle involved in the shooting.
“If you believe the statements of Davis, you don’t need any other independent evidence to prove his participation,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal.
However, the defense argued Davis’ claims were exaggerated and amounted to “bravado” designed to sell his memoir and boost his public profile. The defense also argued that his statements were not corroborated enough by other evidence.
Ultimately, that claim was shot down by the jury.
Prosecutors said the killing was in retaliation for a confrontation that nite between Tupac’s entourage and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.
Evidence presented during the trial showed Tupac and entourage members had beaten Anderson at a Las Vegas casino.
Davis later said he was furious over the confrontation and got into a white Cadillac with three other men to find Tupac and Death Row Records executive Marion “Suge” Knight.
Before they found Tupac and Knight, investigators said he handed a firearm off to the back seat of the vehicle.
One of the men in the back seat then opened fire, the prosecution said.
On September 7, 1996, Tupac was stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up alongside his vehicle and gunfire erupted.
The rapper was shot several times and succumbed to his injuries six days later at the age of 25.
Prosecutors said Davis was the mastermind of the attack, but they did not say who actually did the shooting. The three other men in the Cadillac have since died.
Nevada law didn’t require prosecutors to prove Davis pulled the trigger to convict him of murder.
Tupac’s stepbrother Mopreme Shakur had expressed cautious optimism before the trial, but also acknowledged the pain of decades of unanswered questions.
Mopreme remembers the nite Tupac was shot: rushing to Las Vegas, sitting in the hospital bed with his brother as the family waited in hope for Tupac to pull through.
But he said no court ruling could ever bring the justice his family sought.
I’ll never get the justice I want. “I want my little brother back,” Mopreme said.
That sentiment demonstrated the emotional significance of the verdict for Tupac’s family, almost 30 years after his death.
Tupac Shakur’s killing was one of the defining moments of 1990s hip-hop, coming at the height of tensions between rival factions associated with the West Coast and East Coast rap scenes.
Shakur was one of the most commercially successful and influential rappers of his generation, and was closely associated with Death Row Records and the Mob Piru street gang. Davis was a leader of the rival South Side Compton Crips gang.
His killing has led to years of speculation, conspiracy theories and competing narratives about what happened that nite.
For decades, no one was charged.
This changed in 2023 when Davis was arrested and charged with murder after years of making public statements about his alleged involvement. The prosecution then used those statements, his memoir and recordings of his conversations with investigators as key parts of its case.
The trial, which opened Aug. 17, featured dozens of witnesses and included hours of recorded conversations.
With the jury’s verdict, the nearly 30-year-old mystery surrounding Tupac’s death entered a new chapter.
But with Davis vowing to appeal, and the identity of the actual gunman still officially unresolved, the legal story surrounding one of music history’s most famous murders is not necessarily over.