After nearly three decades, a Las Vegas jury has found former Compton gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur.
On Monday, the panel returned a unanimous verdict of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon following less than three hours of deliberation. Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in the September 7, 1996, drive-by shooting that killed the 25-year-old rapper.
Davis sat without visible reaction as the clerk read the decision. Members of Shakur’s family, including his sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, wept and embraced prosecutors. Sentencing is scheduled for October 13. Davis faces a possible life sentence and has already indicated he will appeal.
Prosecutors argued that Davis, then a leader in the South Side Compton Crips, organized the attack as retaliation. Earlier that night at the MGM Grand, Shakur and others had beaten Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, in the casino lobby. According to the state’s case, Davis obtained a gun, got into a white Cadillac with several others, and directed the shooting when the vehicle pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.
Key evidence centered on Davis’s own repeated statements over the years. Prosecutors presented interviews, podcast appearances, and passages from his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend in which he described supplying the weapon and participating in the hunt for Shakur’s car. A scrapbook containing news clippings about the murder was also introduced. Defense attorneys argued these comments were exaggerated street talk meant to sell books and raise his profile, not reliable confessions.
The actual shooter and the other men prosecutors said were in the Cadillac have all since died. Under Nevada law, a person who aids or orchestrates a murder can be held fully responsible even if they did not pull the trigger.
The case had remained unsolved for almost 30 years and generated endless speculation, documentaries, and conspiracy theories. Monday’s verdict marks the first criminal conviction connected to Shakur’s death.
Davis will remain in custody without bail until sentencing. His attorneys are expected to file an appeal.
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