A Las Vegas jury has found Duane Keffe D Davis guilty in the 1996 murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur. Jurors reached the verdict in less than three hours after a weeks-long trial
A Las Vegas jury has found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty in the 1996 murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur. Jurors reached the verdict in less than three hours after a weeks-long trial.
Jurors concluded that Davis, 63, orchestrated the fatal drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, although prosecutors did not allege that he fired the fatal shots.
Davis had pleaded not guilty and has said he plans to appeal. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 13. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Shakur was in the passenger seat of Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight's black BMW on the evening of September 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac drew up on their right side and shooting broke out. Knight was hurt but made it out alive. A week later, Shakur passed away at the age of 25.
For years, Davis publicly discussed his alleged involvement in the shooting. Prosecutors built much of their case around his own statements in interviews, recordings and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.
During the trial, jurors heard a 2008 police interview in which Davis told detectives that his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson fired the shots that killed Shakur, AP reported. According to the recording, Davis said he was inside the white Cadillac with Anderson and two other men when the vehicle approached Shakur’s BMW.
Davis told detectives that he initially had the gun but passed it back after deciding he could not get a clear shot. He said Anderson then took the weapon and fired at Shakur’s car.
Based on his account, prosecutors argued that Davis’s repeated admissions were central evidence. They said he had described the killing for years before his 2023 arrest, including in his memoir.
The defence challenged those statements, arguing Davis exaggerated his role for attention and that investigators never found physical evidence directly linking him to the shooting. A former detective also testified that some of Davis’s claims could not be independently verified.
Tupac Shakur, born in 1971 in New York City, became one of the most influential figures in hip-hop during the 1990s. His music addressed racism, poverty, police brutality and social inequality. He was 25 when he was killed.
On September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson versus Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight and their entourage.
Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues. Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats. Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments. She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More