Davis requests appeal after jury deliberates roughly three hours
A Nevada jury on Monday convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, of first-degree murder for orchestrating the drive-by killing of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, solving a mystery that has surrounded the rapper’s death for nearly three decades. The jury returned its guilty verdict after roughly three hours of deliberation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Prosecutors said Davis obtained a handgun and directed a fellow South Side Crips gang member to shoot Shakur and former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight as the two men drove to a nightclub. The shooting was carried out from a Cadillac and was described by prosecutors as an “act of revenge” after Shakur and other members of a rival gang allegedly beat Davis’s nephew. Shakur was 25 when he died.
Davis had pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. In a self-published 2019 memoir, he wrote: “I’m one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac’s killing.”
After the jury forewoman announced the verdict on Monday, Davis did not appear to react visibly before interrupting the proceedings. “Excuse me, I’d like to have my stuff back,” he told the court, according to the Journal. “And I would like to appeal this matter.” Clark County Judge Carli Kierny said Davis could appeal the verdict after his sentencing. He is being held without bail.
The rapper’s death stunned the hip-hop community.