A Las Vegas jury has convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of orchestrating the 1996 shooting death of rap icon Tupac Shakur, delivering the first conviction in a murder case that has remained one of hip-hop’s most closely watched mysteries for nearly three decades.
Davis, 63, was found guilty Monday of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur’s killing, a conviction that could bring a life sentence. He had pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said Monday night that the state would move to dismiss the gang enhancement portion of the charge because of witness logistics.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning the verdict following a trial that stretched across several weeks.
Inside the courtroom, the decision drew an emotional response from Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, who cried and reached back toward someone seated behind her. Davis’ son was also present and covered his face with one hand as the verdict was announced.
During closing arguments, 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 after the two men assaulted Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
Palal conceded that Davis’ descriptions of the shooting had shifted over time, but said those changes reflected Davis’ shifting interests and attempts to shield himself. The essential point, Palal argued, never changed: Davis repeatedly put himself inside the white Cadillac from which the fatal shots were fired.
“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal told the jury.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft urged jurors to look beyond Davis’ own statements and ask what independent evidence placed him in Las Vegas or inside the Cadillac on the night Shakur was shot. He emphasized the lack of surveillance video, phone records or other proof tying Davis to the scene.
“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” Sanft said, pointing toward Davis.
Steve Marcus/Pool Photo via AP
The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom were alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses over nine days.
The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.
Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.
For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat. Davis 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. The man who prosecutors say originally gave the gun to Davis is also dead.
Steve Marcus/Pool Photo via AP
Palal told jurors that if they believe Davis’ statements, they do not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.
Still, he pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and testimony that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting. Witnesses had testified to the heated gang rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which were associated with dueling record companies Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records.
“Who fired is not the question,” Palal said. Prosecutors haven’t argued that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.
Palal also argued the shooting was premeditated, pointing to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group searched for Shakur before spotting him on the road and making a U-turn. “It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.
Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth.” Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, Palal argued that names, hotels and other details changed while the central account did not.
Steve Marcus/Pool Photo via AP
Palal also rejected the defense’s contention that Davis fabricated his accounts to make money. “It is an entirely different proposition to be profiting from a murder,” Palal said. “And that is what Mr. Davis is doing.”
Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument. While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.
In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis wouldn’t say who pulled the trigger.
In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.
“This guy’s scrapbooking his murder, for God’s sake,” DiGiacomo told jurors.
The prosecution’s witnesses included a gang expert who described Davis as the shot caller that younger gang members had to obey. Sanft, meanwhile, asked jurors if there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.
During the trial, investigators said a Las Vegas hotel bill was found at Davis’ residence during a police search, but it wasn’t clear when it was dated — or where that evidence is currently located.
The case is nearly 30 years old, which has affected the kind of evidence presented in court. Prosecutors warned jurors that material collected in the ’90s is different from what law enforcement collects today, including hotel surveillance video from the night of the shooting.
