Duane Davis Guilty in Tupac Shakur Murder, Appeal Planned

A Las Vegas jury found Duane Davis guilty on Monday, August 31, of murdering Tupac Shakur, nearly 30 years after the shooting that killed the rapper. TMZ reports the news, citing the verdict handed down that day.

The 63-year-old Davis, known by the nickname Keffe D, now faces life in prison. Both TMZ and ABC7 confirm that possibility. Sources differ slightly on the exact charge: TMZ writes that Davis was convicted of murder with use of a deadly weapon to benefit a criminal gang, while NBC and ABC7 describe the verdict simply as first-degree murder. ABC7 adds a detail that may explain the discrepancy: prosecutors announced Monday evening that they were dropping the gang-related portion of the indictment because of witness logistics.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours after a trial that ran for weeks. Prosecutors called 24 witnesses during the proceedings, and the defense called three. Davis did not testify in his own defense.

What the courtroom looked like when the verdict was read

When the verdict was read, Tupac Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, cried and embraced the prosecutors, according to ABC7. Davis’s son covered his face with his hand in the courtroom.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told the Las Vegas jury in his closing argument:

The core facts remain. The material facts remain.

Palal explained to jurors that the key details had not changed even though Davis gave different versions of events over the years. In every account, Palal argued, Davis placed himself in the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

What happened in 1996

Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas while stopped at a red light. Shots were fired from a white Cadillac that had pulled up alongside his vehicle. The rapper died six days later. Suge Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records who was riding with Tupac that night, was also shot but survived.

Prosecutors say Davis was the one giving orders and that he handed the gun to the shooter, believed to be his nephew, Orlando Anderson. As a motive, prosecutors pointed to revenge for a casino lobby brawl earlier that same night, in which Tupac’s entourage attacked Davis’s nephew.

Evidence used against Davis included his own statements to police and his own book. In a 2008 interview with investigators, Davis said, according to prosecutors, that he handed the gun to his nephew and that his nephew was the one who fired the fatal shots.

What happens next for Davis

Davis has already made clear to the judge that he plans to appeal the verdict, TMZ reports. Sentencing is scheduled for October 13 before Judge Carli Kierny, according to CNN and NPR. ABC7 has not yet reported that detail.

This marks the first conviction connected to Tupac Shakur’s murder, one of the most famous unsolved cases in music history. The verdict comes almost three decades after the shooting, in a case that has followed the hip hop world for decades and in which, until now, only Duane Davis, the last surviving member of the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac that night, had ever spoken publicly about his own role.