Jury finds Duane Davis guilty in 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur

Duane “Keffe D” Davis was found guilty in the killing of Tupac Shakur, ending a nearly three-decade wait for a verdict in one of hip-hop’s most prominent unsolved murders.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours. Davis, 63, faced a murder charge involving a deadly weapon, with prosecutors alleging that the crime aimed to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He had pleaded not guilty.

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went hunting

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. Palal said the two had beaten Davis’s nephew earlier that night. Prosecutors argued that Davis’s own words connected him to the shooting.

Palal acknowledged that Davis had given differing accounts over the years. He said those changes reflected Davis’s shifting motivations and attempts to protect himself, while one central detail stayed consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal said in closing arguments.

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The core facts remain. The material facts remain.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft challenged jurors to find evidence beyond Davis’s statements that put him in Las Vegas or inside the Cadillac on Sept. 7, 1996. He cited the absence of surveillance footage, phone records and other evidence 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.

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They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996.