Keffe D convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, found guilty after nearly three hours of jury deliberation in Las Vegas. He faces life in prison at sentencing on 13 October.

Former gang leader convicted of murdering Tupac Shakur after 30-year cold case

A Las Vegas jury found Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon on Monday, closing a case that had gone unsolved for nearly three decades, Google News MT reports.

The jury in Clark County, Nevada, deliberated for just under three hours before returning the verdict at the end of an 11-day trial. Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang in Los Angeles, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. His sentencing is scheduled for 13 October. He told the judge he plans to appeal.

The shooting and its background

Shakur was shot on 7 September 1996, roughly two hours after members of his entourage had beaten Davis's nephew at a Las Vegas casino. Prosecutors argued Davis was enraged by the confrontation and acted in retaliation.

"Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand," prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. "So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together and went hunting for Mr Shakur."

Shakur had travelled to Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight. A white Cadillac pulled up alongside the BMW carrying the rapper at a red light, and a gunman opened fire. According to prosecutors, Davis handed the weapon to someone in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot. Shakur, seated in the front passenger seat of the BMW, died six days after the attack. He was 25.

The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, was wounded in the shooting. Davis is the only surviving occupant of the Cadillac from that night.

A cold case revived by a memoir

The investigation stalled for decades due to a lack of physical evidence, but was reignited after Davis published his autobiography, Compton Street Legend, in 2019. Over the years Davis had repeatedly spoken about his involvement in the killing — in interviews with law enforcement, with media, and ultimately in the book itself.

He subsequently reversed course and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. His defence attorney, Michael Sanft, told the jury that the statements in the autobiography were fiction rather than confession.

"You're reading a book that is fiction and not fact," Sanft said. "But the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting."

Sanft argued that beyond Davis's own words, no independent evidence placed his client at the scene. Before the trial, Davis's legal team had also attempted unsuccessfully to have both the book and a 2008 police interview excluded as evidence.

Palal, in his closing arguments, played clips from Davis's various alleged confessions directly to the jury.

Who was Tupac Shakur

Shakur, also known as 2Pac, was a central figure in the rivalry between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop in the mid-1990s. Born to a Black Panther activist, he grew up in Harlem and Baltimore before becoming closely associated with California rap after signing with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records. His catalogue included tracks such as "California Love" and "All Eyez on Me". His killing became one of the most discussed cold cases in American music history, generating sustained debate about motive and perpetrators for decades after his death.

Source: Google News MT