Duane Davis Convicted in Tupac Shakur's 1996 Murder

A Las Vegas jury convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder Monday in the shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur, closing a case that captivated the public and eluded police for three decades. The 63-year-old former gang leader faces life in prison.

The verdict came after less than three hours of deliberation, following a nearly two-week trial. Prosecutors had argued that Davis, a shot-caller for the South Side Compton Crips, orchestrated the killing as retaliation for a casino lobby attack on his nephew hours earlier that night.

Shakur was killed on September 7, 1996, in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. His death, along with the unsolved murder of The Notorious B.I.G. six months later, defined an era of rap music and spawned decades of conspiracy theories and investigation.

Davis did not fire the weapon himself. Prosecutors alleged he handed the gun to the back seat of a Cadillac, where it was fired by either his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson or another man in the vehicle. The other occupants have since died, limiting eyewitness accounts. Instead, prosecutors built their case on Davis’s own words—police interviews and his 2019 memoir where he implicated himself in the shooting.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger,” Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo told jurors. “But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew.”

The prosecution presented evidence of a scrapbook Davis kept containing newspaper articles about Shakur. At trial, a gang expert testified that Davis held authority over younger members who had to obey his orders. Defense attorneys challenged the characterization, questioning whether Davis had been a “shot-caller” before or after the incident.

The case remained cold for nearly 30 years until Davis’s arrest in September 2023. His own memoir, combined with statements he made in police interviews, provided the breakthrough that finally propelled the investigation forward. Judge Carli Kierny has set Davis’s sentencing for October. He faces a potential life sentence.

Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, wept and embraced prosecutors after the verdict was read.