Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis Found Guilty Of 1996 Murder Of Tupac Shakur

Nearly 30 years after the murder of Tupac Shakur, a Las Vegas jury has found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the 1996 killing of the hip-hop icon. Jurors returned the unanimous verdict Monday, Aug. 31, after deliberating for less than three hours following a multi-week trial.

Davis, 63, was the only person ever criminally charged in Shakur’s killing. Prosecutors did not accuse Davis of firing the shots that killed the rapper. Instead, they argued that he orchestrated the attack and provided the weapon as retaliation for an altercation involving Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand earlier that night. Under Nevada law, a person involved in planning a murder can be held criminally responsible even if they did not pull the trigger.

The prosecution relied heavily on Davis’ own accounts of the shooting over the years, including statements made during interviews with investigators, media appearances and his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” Davis’ defense argued that those accounts had been exaggerated or fictionalized for money and entertainment and challenged the strength of the evidence connecting him to the murder.

Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight near the Las Vegas Strip. The 25-year-old rapper was struck multiple times and died six days later on Sept. 13. His murder remained one of hip-hop’s most infamous unsolved cases for decades before Davis was arrested in September 2023.

The conviction marks the first successful prosecution stemming from Shakur’s murder and brings a dramatic conclusion to a case that has generated decades of investigations, theories and debate throughout hip-hop culture. Davis now faces the possibility of life in prison and has indicated he intends to appeal the verdict. Sentencing will be determined at a later date.