Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis has been found guilty of the 1996 murder of American rapper Tupac Shakur.
On Monday, a jury convicted Davis of a single count of murder with a deadly weapon. He could be sentenced to life in prison. He was the first and only person to be charged for the 25-year-old hip-hop icon’s death.
Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting on 7 September 1996, while travelling to perform at a Las Vegas club. He was shot multiple times and died from his injuries six days later.
His driver, music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, was also injured but survived.
It was a decades-long case that had run cold until recent years, when Davis revealed in his 2019 tell-all memoir and revived interviews that he was in the Cadillac involved in the shootout and gave the gun to others in the backseat.
He said it was a retaliation for the earlier beating of his nephew, and he was the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors said were in the Cadillac.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight after the men had attacked Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
“He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur. Find him guilty,” Palal said.
Prosecutors said while Davis’ story had changed over the years, he repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.
Although he did not pull the trigger, they said evidence showed he’d called for the gunfire as a powerful gang leader to the younger men in the car, including his nephew.
After the verdict was read, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors. Davis’ son covered his face with his hand.
A panel of 16 jurors heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.
Davis’ attorney argued there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting and said his book, ‘Compton Street Legend’ and the public statements he made were dramatised bravado designed to make money, not to tell the truth.
However, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur and told jurors: “This guy’s scrapbooking his murder, for God’s sake.”
In an interview, Davis previously encouraged people to buy the memoir to get the “real truth.” Although the book contained a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, prosecutors argued the central account did not.
While insisting Davis’ words alone were enough to convict him, prosecutors said a gang conflict helped explain why the shooting happened.
Witnesses described the hostile rivalry between the Los Angeles gang sects Mob Piru and Davis’ Southside Compton Crips leading up to Shakur’s death and how the gangs became affiliated with Knight’s Death Row Records and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records.
The shooting death of Bad Boy’s The Notorious BIG six months after Shakur came up many times during the trial, with law enforcement witnesses saying Davis was briefly a suspect in that killing before being discounted.
That case, which has also been an obsession of hip-hop fans, remains unsolved.
The prosecution said the state would dismiss a gang enhancement charge in Davis’ case due to logistical issues with witnesses.
Prosecutors declined to comment following the verdict, and Shakur’s family members said they would wait until sentencing, which is scheduled for October.
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