Jury finds former gang leader guilty of murdering Tupac Shakur

After three decades, a Nevada jury convicted the former street gang leader accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.

The Clark County jury deliberated for nearly three hours before finding Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The 11-day trial ended in a downtown Las Vegas courtroom. Davis faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole when he is sentenced on October 13, and he told the judge, “he plans to appeal this matter”.

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he plans to appeal this matter

Prosecutor Binu Palal said Davis obtained a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after Davis’ nephew was beaten by Shakur’s entourage earlier that night. Recordings played for jurors showed Davis telling police during an unrelated investigation that he and three other men went looking for Knight and Shakur in a white Cadillac. He said he passed a gun to the back seat, and one of the two men there opened fire when they found the victims’ car.

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went hunting

The prosecution did not identify the shooter. The three other men in the car have since died, but Nevada law allows Davis to face a murder charge even if he did not fire the weapon. Police had long suspected him, prosecutors said, but lacked enough evidence to charge him until he discussed the killing in media appearances and a memoir. Those accounts and recordings of secret meetings with investigators formed most of the case.

Davis’ lawyer, Michael Sanft, told jurors the story could not be corroborated and was affected by police corruption, mismanagement and missing files. “You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact, but the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession,” Sanft said of Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. Shakur’s 1996 death became a defining moment in rap history and intensified the genre’s association with violence.

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You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact, but the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession