The family of Tupac Shakur shed tears and embraced in hugs after the jury found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty of first-degree murder in the rap icon’s death. Dinorah Perez reports for the NBC4 News at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026.
What to Know
- Closing arguments in the Tupac Shakur murder trial were Monday in a Nevada courtroom following testimony from more than two dozen witnesses.
- Duane "Keffe D" Davis faces a charge of first-degree murder in the 25-year-old rap icon's shooting death near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996.
- The former gang member was portrayed by prosecutors as an influential shot-caller who orchestrated the shooting in retribution for a casino lobby attack on his nephew earlier that night.
- Much of the prosecution's case focused on the defendant's own words about the deadly encounter, including police interviews and a 2019 memoir.
- Davis' attorneys have disputed the statements and said he was never previously charged in the Shakur murder because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap."
- Now convicted, Davis faces up to life in prison.
Jurors have found Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder for orchestrating the death of rap legend Tupac Shakur.
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WATCH HEREThe verdict was reached Monday after the roughly two-week trial came to a close three decades after the music icon's drive-by shooting death in Las Vegas. The decision was read after only hours of deliberations.
The decision comes after weeks of testimony that largely focused on past interviews and other comments about the killing from Davis, a former gang member who is the only person to ever face criminal charges in the 1996 shooting.
Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon to consider the case against Davis, who faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The panel of 10 women and six men heard from two dozen witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense.
During the delivery of jury instructions Monday, the judge noted that Davis was accused in an indictment alleging an open charge of murder. The charge could have included first- or second-degree murder, a decision that was left to the jury.
Now convicted, Davis faces up to life in prison.
Davis isn't accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25, but prosecutors have portrayed him as a shot-caller who orchestrated the attack as retribution for a casino lobby brawl earlier on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, that involved Shakur, his entourage and Davis' nephew.
Much of the prosecution's case focused on the defendant's own words about the Las Vegas shooting that stunned the hip-hop world. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.
"Under California and Nevada law, if you are the shot-caller, if you hand the gun to somebody, even if you didn't pull the trigger, it's all the same," said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.
Prosecutors revisited those recordings during closing arguments, claiming the case is "drenched in circumstantial evidence." Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and "went hunting" for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge" Knight.
Palal acknowledged Davis' account changed over the years, but insisted a key element remained the same --- Davis placing himself in the Cadillac.
Palal also told jurors the drive-by shooting was planned, suggesting premeditation warranting a conviction on a first-degree murder charge. He pointed to testimony and Davis' accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn near the Strip.
"It’s a plan, not an impulse," Palal said.
Prosecutors also played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.
Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Knight, survived.
In a 2008 police interview played for jurors, Davis said he provided the gun and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, opened fire. The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.
“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew," Palal told jurors during opening statements. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.
“Now, 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable.”
Davis' attorneys have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. Attorney Michael Sanft told jurors his client's words did not represent the truth.
During the defense's closing argument, attorney Michael Sanft described his client's words as braggadocio meant to make money, not the truth. He pointed to a lack of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.
Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap," Sanft said earlier in the trial.
But prosecutors attempted to portray Davis as an influential gang member. Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.”
Davis' ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.
Davis did not testify.
"Very smart move for him not to testify because in this situation the prosecution was unable to come up with any corroborating evidence of his guilt," Oakes said. "They can't really establish, really, that he was in Las Vegas, much less that he was in that car.
"Now, he confessed all that in his memoir, to the police in 08 and 09, podcast interviews, but is that going to be enough," Oakes said. "Critically, there were inconsistencies in the stories he told that allowed the defense to argue he was just makin it up, he wanted street cred."
The shooting marked a flashpoint in a dispute with roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader. Ladd testified that Shakur's shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.
Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security.
Shakur remains a cultural icon and is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
After his death, Shakur and his influence lived on. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”
