Duane 'Keffe D' Davis found guilty of murder of Tupac Shakur
Duane 'Keffe D' Davis has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Shakur, 25, was on his way to perform at a Las Vegas nightclub in September 1996 when a Cadillac pulled up beside him and music mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight.
Shakur was shot multiple times and died just under a week later. Knight was also hit but survived.
Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s death.
Advert
The trial for the 1996 killing of Shakur heard closing arguments today, after which the jury was sent out for deliberation.
During closing arguments, the defence argued that a not guilty verdict was the only one that ‘made sense’.
Defence lawyer Michael Sanft said: "When you go back and deliberate, we are confident you're going to come back with a verdict of not guilty for Mr Davis - because it's the only verdict that makes sense in this case.
"It's the only verdict that has any facts."
Meanwhile, the prosecution said the case was a ‘slam dunk’.
"This case is not about provability," prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said.
"It is a slam dunk, absolutely, totally, no defence to murder case."
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard what Shakur told a cop after being shot, and have sat through grim testimony detailing the rapper’s injuries following the shooting.
A panel of 16 jurors, four of whom were alternates, heard 24 witnesses prosecutors called and three witnesses defence called over nine days. The trial was expected to take longer, with prosecutors originally planning to call 35 to 45 witnesses.
The prosecution hammered home the argument that Davis called the shots for the attack on Shakur that night based on Davis’ book and interviews, while Davis’ defence lawyer reiterated his claim that the prosecution’s narrative is fiction, and that they failed to back up Davis’ claims with evidence.
Davis has described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.
Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime.
Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac.
On Monday (31 August), the jury reached their verdict after around just three hours of deliberation and with just 10 minutes of today's court session left to go, Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang.
He now faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars.
Davis appeared straight-faced as the verdict was read out, CNN reports.
However, he later told the judge he plans to appeal the verdict.
The rapper's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, could be seen holding hands with other family members as the verdict was delivered and appeared to become tearful.
Judge Carli Kierny has set the sentencing for 13 October.
The case has garnered a huge amount of renewed public interest, not least because until Davis was indicted in 2023 noone had been charged in relation to the killing.
It also drew plenty of attention as the victim in the case is a certified hip-hop icon.
Shakur is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time, despite dying at 25.
He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
In recent years, he received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, had a street in Oakland named in his honour and inspired a character in the upcoming video game Stranger Than Heaven.
Who is Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis?
Duane Keith Davis, also known as ‘Keffe D’, is a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips and the uncle of Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson.
Anderson - who was long suspected of being the gunman in Tupac Shakur’s murder - died in an unrelated gang-related shooting in May 1998 at age 23.
Davis became a central figure in Shakur’s case after publicly discussing his alleged involvement in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
During a 2008 police interview, Davis said he was in the vehicle from which the shots that killed Shakur were fired, but did not fire the bullets himself, alleging it was his nephew who pulled the trigger.
“[Anderson] leaned over and rolled down the window and popped him,” Davis said in a police recording.
Meanwhile, in his book, he penned: “I'm one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac's killing, who also knows the much larger story around the reasons why both Tupac and Biggie were killed.”
Following years of investigating, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department raided Davis’ home in July, 2023. He was subsequently arrested and charged over Shakur’s killing.
However, the former gang boss continued to maintain his innocence.
Speaking from jail days before his trial started, Davis claimed that he was not in Las Vegas the night of Shakur’s shooting.
“They can’t prove it also,” he told FOX5.
Davis also claimed a ghostwriter was behind his 2019 memoir, adding that he ‘was just trying to make [his] family some money’.
Claire Reid