A Nevada jury on Monday found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder in the 1996 drive-by shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur, ending nearly three decades without a conviction in one of hip-hop’s most notorious unsolved cases.
Davis, 63, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was convicted of murder with the use of a deadly weapon after jurors deliberated for roughly three hours. He had pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the attack near the Las Vegas Strip.
Prosecutors argued Davis arranged the shooting in retaliation for a brawl earlier that night at the MGM Grand hotel, in which Shakur and associates beat Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, following a Mike Tyson boxing match.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis obtained a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight. “It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said, adding that Davis’s own statements over the years consistently placed him inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired. “The core facts remain. The material facts remain.”
Shakur was struck by multiple bullets while riding in a BMW driven by Knight on Sept. 7, 1996. He died six days later at age 25. Knight survived. Prosecutors did not claim Davis pulled the trigger but said he supplied the weapon and directed the group. Under Nevada law, a person who aids or orchestrates a killing can be convicted of murder.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft argued there was no independent evidence placing Davis in Las Vegas or the Cadillac that night and that his client’s past accounts were fabricated for money and notoriety. Davis did not testify.
The jury of 16, including four alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses over nine days. Davis remains in custody without bail. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and has indicated he plans to appeal.
