Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been convicted of first-degree murder in Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing, ending a nearly 30-year-old mystery.
LAS VEGAS — Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, bringing a nearly three-decade-old case to a dramatic legal turning point.
The 63-year-old Davis was convicted by a 12-member jury in Clark County, Nevada, of murder with the use of a deadly weapon after less than three hours of deliberation. The verdict marks the first criminal conviction in the case surrounding Shakur’s death, one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries in music history.
Prosecutors argued that Davis helped orchestrate the fatal shooting, although he was not accused of being the gunman. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after an earlier confrontation involving Davis’ nephew. Palal further told the court: “He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur.”
Shakur, 25, was shot on September 7, 1996, while travelling in a BMW with Knight following a Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas. He died six days later from his injuries. Prosecutors relied heavily on statements Davis made over the years, including media interviews, his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend and recorded conversations with investigators.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo also pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing newspaper articles about Shakur, telling jurors: “This guy’s scrapbooking his murder, for God’s sake.” Prosecutors maintained that Davis’ repeated accounts placed him inside the white Cadillac from which the fatal shots were fired.
The defence sought to undermine those accounts, arguing that Davis had exaggerated or fabricated stories about the shooting to promote his memoir and make money. Defence attorney Michael Sanft urged jurors to treat Davis’ published accounts with scepticism, declaring: “You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact.” The jury nevertheless rejected the defence’s argument and returned a guiltyAbsolutely. I’d weave the courtroom remarks directly into the narrative so the article reads like a polished news report rather than a story followed by a separate quote list.
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