Thirty years after rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, a former gang leader has been found guilty of orchestrating his death.
A jury in Clark County, Nev., convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, ex-head of Los Angeles street gang South Side Compton Crips, of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, following a weekslong trial.
But prosecutors decided not to proceed with part of the charge about gang enhancement—an extra prison sentence added to a conviction when the crime is committed for the benefit of, or in connection with, a criminal gang—citing “witness logistics.”
Shakur’s murder in September 1996 at the age of 25 had left so many questions unanswered and has been the subject of conspiracies for years.
But the investigation into his death was revived after Davis published his memoir, Compton Street Legend, in 2019. In the memoir and during promotions, he outlined the role of the Crips in Shakur’s death. The Crips were feuding with the Mob Piru, which had ties to Shakur and his record label, Death Row Records.
Nevada law allows Davis to be charged with murder even if he did not pull the trigger.
Davis, who was arrested in 2023, could face life in prison. Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny ordered that Davis be held without bail and scheduled his sentencing on Oct. 13.
The former gang leader, however, said in court that he would appeal the conviction.
The trial against Davis began on Aug. 17. More than two dozen witnesses testified before a panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates. Jurors also watched footage about the fight that broke out a few hours before Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was riding with him, were shot by a man in a white Cadillac on Sept. 7, 1996, while Shakur’s car stopped at a red light.
Knight survived, but Shakur died six days later.
Throughout the trial, Davis's defense attorney, Michael Sanft, attempted to discredit the evidence against his client.
In his closing arguments, which lasted for more than an hour, Sanft argued that the prosecution lacked the physical evidence to connect Davis to the crime scene and to determine that Davis called the shots in Shakur’s death. He also claimed the investigation was compromised, and that the Compton Police Department, which probed the local gang rivalry that provided the backdrop for the shooting, was also shut down due to corruption.
“We’re not giving you everything,” Sanft told the jurors. “And you as jurors deserve everything—in terms of the full weight of the evidence in this case. We don’t have it.”
Sanft also repeatedly attacked Davis’ memoir, saying that his client did not even read the book and that his client was telling stories to make money.
“When you think about Mr. Davis's statements, they all conflict,” Sanft told the jurors. “They conflict with the book and they conflict with the facts. And the only thing that we have that we can agree on is that Tupac Shakur was shot and killed.”
