The former Compton gang leader charged with orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur was convicted of first-degree murder by a Las Vegas jury on Monday, marking a long-awaited reckoning in one of the most notorious unsolved killings in music history.
Jurors needed only about three hours to return their verdict against Duane “ Keffe D ” Davis in the nearly 30-year-old killing. Davis, who did not testify, is set to be sentenced on October 13 and faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Shortly after hearing the verdict, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa, embraced a man seated behind her and wiped her eyes with a tissue, according to a live feed of the proceeding from The Associated Press .
Before court adjourned, Davis raised his hand and told the court he wanted his electronics back and planned to appeal. The judge said any appeal “happens after sentencing,” and she ordered him held without bail.
Davis, 63, had pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon. His defense lawyer, Michael Sanft, argued the state’s case was built on “lies” that Davis first told prosecutors to avoid prison on narcotics charges and later repeated in interviews and in his memoir, Compton Street Legend , for profit. Davis was arrested in September 2023 and remained in custody through the trial.
In his closing argument, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal accused Davis of organizing the Sept. 7, 1996, shooting as “gang retaliation” for a beating that took place about two hours earlier inside the MGM Grand casino. He said Shakur, Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, and others attacked Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, after their Death Row associate Trevon Lane spotted Anderson in the casino following a Mike Tyson fight.
During the trial, jurors heard the confrontation grew out of an earlier gang dispute involving Davis’ and Anderson’s South Side Compton Crips and the rival Mob Piru Bloods, whose members included Lane and others associated with Death Row. They heard Lane had a run-in with Anderson and other Crips at a mall near Compton about two months before Shakur’s shooting, and that someone allegedly stole a chain bearing a Death Row medallion. Admitted Crips member Denvonta Lee testified under a court order and told jurors he was there when the mall brawl “broke out” and the chain “came off” Lane’s neck. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
Palal said the alleged chain theft was viewed as “an ultimate sign of disrespect,” demanding retribution and culminating in the MGM Grand beating of Anderson captured on surveillance video.
The centerpiece of the prosecution’s case was the “secret” recorded interview Davis gave to police in 2008 in which he described his role in the shooting in extraordinary detail. Prosecutors characterized the account as a confession and said the fact that Davis was trying to gain leverage in an unrelated narcotics case didn’t diminish its significance.
In his dueling closing argument, Sanft disputed that characterization, saying Davis had fabricated the account and that his retellings over the years often conflicted with one another and,…