Three decades after Tupac Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, a former street gang leader accused of helping orchestrate the attack has been found guilty of murder in a case that has haunted hip-hop for a generation.
A Clark County jury deliberated for nearly three hours before convicting Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, on one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The verdict followed an 11-day trial held in a downtown Las Vegas courtroom.
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Davis faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on 13 October.
He told the judge that “he plans to appeal this matter”.
Moment jury finds ex-gang leader guilty in Tupac killing case
As the hearing ended, several people in the gallery wiped away tears and embraced a prosecutor.
Representatives for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and Davis’ lawyer did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.
Binu Palal, a prosecutor with the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, told jurors that Davis was bound by the code of respect that governs street gangs and could not ignore the beating of his nephew.
“So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for M. Shakur,” Mr Palal said.
Police had long focused on Davis, but investigators said they lacked sufficient evidence to charge him until he began discussing the killing in media appearances and a memoir. Those accounts, together with recordings of his secret meetings with investigators, formed the core of the prosecution’s case.
Police said they long suspected Duane “Keffe D” Davis but did not have enough evidence to charge him
‘Fiction not fact’
During closing arguments, Davis’ lawyer Michael Sanft urged jurors to reject his client’s account, saying there was no evidence to independently corroborate it. He argued that the investigation had also been undermined 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.”
Over two weeks of testimony, prosecutors played hours of recordings in which Davis described being enraged after Mr Shakur and members of his entourage assaulted Davis’ nephew.
Davis told police during an unrelated investigation that he, his nephew and two other men went searching for Mr Shakur and record executive Marion “Suge” Knight in a white Cadillac on the night of the beating. He said he handed a gun to someone in the back seat, and that when they located Knight and Mr Shakur’s vehicle, one of the two passengers opened fire.
Prosecutors have not identified the alleged shooter, while the three other men in the Cadillac have since died. Under Nevada law, Davis may be convicted of murder even if he was not the person who fired the weapon.
Davis was a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, a Los Angeles-area street gang that was involved in a feud with the Mob Piru, a rival gang associated with Mr Shakur and his record label, Death Row Records.
Mr Shakur’s 1996 killing became a defining moment in rap history, reinforcing hip-hop’s violent public image during the height of “gangsta” rap and an era marked by bitter rivalries between East Coast and West Coast artists.
