Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis Found Guilty in Tupac Shakur Murder Case After Nearly 30 Years

Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, following a trial that brought the long-running case before a Las Vegas jury.

The 63-year-old former South Side Compton Crips leader was convicted on Monday, August 31, after jurors deliberated for less than three hours. Davis was accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting but was not alleged to have pulled the trigger. He faces a possible life sentence, with sentencing scheduled for October 13.

Prosecutors argued that Davis organised the attack after his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, was involved in a confrontation with Shakur’s group at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson fight. Shakur was later shot while travelling in a BMW near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996.

A major part of the prosecution’s case centred on Davis’ own accounts of the shooting, including his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and recorded interviews in which he described being inside the white Cadillac involved in the attack. Prosecutors said his statements supported their claim that he supplied the gun and helped organise the shooting.

Davis’ defence maintained that his accounts were exaggerated or fictional and questioned the lack of physical evidence directly placing him at the scene. Davis had pleaded not guilty.