Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis found guilty of murder in 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur

LAS VEGAS — A jury in Las Vegas on Monday found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of plotting the 1996 murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur.

After a three-week trial, jurors deliberated for nearly three hours before finding Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, The New York Times reported. He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the Sept. 7, 1996, shooting of Shakur near the Las Vegas Strip, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Davis, who said he would appeal the verdict, was held without bail. He could face life in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 13. Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa, embraced a man seated behind her and wiped her eyes with a tissue, according to a live feed from The Associated Press.

Shakur, 25, who was stopped at a red light in a black BMW, was shot four times and died six days later. Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight, who was in the vehicle with the rapper when shots were fired from a white Cadillac, was grazed in the head with a bullet but survived, the Review-Journal reported.

Under Nevada law, a person who helps another individual commit murder can be convicted of the crime, according to the AP. Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors said were in the Cadillac, and the man who allegedly gave the gun to the defendant is also dead, the news organization reported.

Davis was arrested in September 2023 and was in custody through the trial, Rolling Stone reported.

Prosecutors accused Davis of obtaining the gun and pursuing Shakur during a gang war, according to the Times. They also alleged that the Bloods-associated Mob Piru gang had ties to Death Row Records, and the South Side Crips -- of which prosecutors said Davis was a leader -- were associated with Bad Boy Records, a label owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs, the Review-Journal reported.

Physical evidence against Davis was scarce, but prosecutors focused on Davis’ previous statements about his involvement in the shooting, particularly to law enforcement officials, media outlets and in passages from “Compton Street Legend,” a memoir he now disputes writing, the Review-Journal reported.

“Do we honestly think the guy who’s dumb enough to write a book could keep this story straight this many times, this many times over?” Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said in court, according to the newspaper. “How does he in 2008 tell the most compelling version of events that is corroborated by every single piece of paper or every single other piece of evidence in this case?”

Defense attorney Michael Sanft has disputed the prosecution’s allegations.

“There’s not one thing that says that Mr. Davis was in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting of Tupac Shakur,” Sanft told jurors.

“They can’t even place me out here,” Davis told ABC News in 2025. “They don’t have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.”

The case had been unsolved for more than two decades but was revived after Davis began speaking publicly about Shakur’s murder, the Times reported. In podcast interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Davis said he played a central role in the shooting but added that he did not pull the trigger, according to the newspaper.

Davis would later say he invented a sensational story to sell books, the Times reported. During the trial, Sanft focused on the missing physical evidence, arguing that prosecutors needed more than Davis’ own words to find him guilty, according to the newspaper.

Authorities alleged that Davis was the “shot-caller” who orchestrated the plan to get revenge against Shakur and Knight, the Review-Journal reported. The shooting was allegedly in retaliation against the rapper’s entourage against Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night at the MGM Grand Hotel, according to the newspaper.

Before court adjourned, Davis raised his hand and told the court he wanted his electronics back and planned to appeal, Rolling Stone reported. District Court Judge Carli Kierny said that any appeal “happens after sentencing,” according to the Review-Journal.

Prosecutors announced they were dropping their pursuit of a “gang enhancement” against Davis due to witness logistics, CNN reported.

Months before his death, Shakur released “All Eyez on Me,” the first full-length double studio album released by a solo hip-hop artist, the Times reported. His songs from that album included “California Love,” “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and “Life Goes On.”

Shakur also appeared in seven films, three of which were released posthumously, according to the newspaper.

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