Nevada jury convicts Duane Davis in 1996 Tupac Shakur murder

Prosecutors built case on Davis’s own public statements

A Las Vegas jury on Monday convicted former South Side Compton Crips leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis of murder with a deadly weapon for the September 7, 1996 drive-by shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur, delivering the first conviction in a cold case that has intrigued hip-hop fans for nearly 30 years.

The jury reached the guilty verdict within hours of being handed the case, according to BBC News reporting from the Las Vegas courtroom. Davis, 63, stood impassive in a black suit as the verdict was read. Shakur’s relatives held hands, some hugging and crying as the foreperson announced the decision.

Prosecutors had argued during the trial that although Davis did not fire the weapon that killed Shakur, he ordered the shooting and supplied the gun used by his nephew Orlando Anderson. They told the court that Davis had planned the attack as retaliation after Anderson was involved in a fight with Shakur and the rapper’s entourage in Las Vegas hours earlier.

The prosecution built its case around Davis’s own public statements, in which he repeatedly and publicly acknowledged being inside the white Cadillac from which the deadly shots were fired. In closing arguments, prosecutor Binu Palal urged jurors to take Davis at his word. “He’s the shot caller — in every instance in every iteration he’s the leader of the South Side Crips,” Palal told the jury. “When you have the shot caller sitting shotgun when shots are fired, there’s no doubt he’s responsible.”

Davis had detailed his role in Shakur’s death during a secret 2008 police interview related to the killing of fellow rapper Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious B.I.G. He elaborated further in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” and discussed the case in documentaries and podcasts. The court ruled that the 2008 police interview could be used against him at trial after Davis’s public comments voided a protective agreement that had previously blocked criminal charges.

Davis’s defense team urged jurors to discredit his client’s statements as fiction intended to sell books. Defense lawyer Michael Sanft told jurors that Davis was a liar who simply told tales for profit. “There’s no proof,” Sanft said in closing arguments. But within hours of the jury being handed the case on Monday, they reached a guilty verdict.

Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny set Davis’s sentencing for October 13. As the court emptied, Davis raised his hand and asked for his personal belongings, including his phone, before telling the judge he would appeal. The judge explained that the appeal could proceed after sentencing.

Shakur was 25 when he was slain at the height of his career as one of rap’s most influential voices. He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. His murder occurred amid the intense East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry and gang feuds between the Bloods and Crips that were deeply rooted in hip-hop culture at the time.

Outside the courthouse, devoted fans of Shakur were crying and cheering as news of the verdict spread. Inside, his sister embraced a prosecutor as others sat crying nearby.