Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis convicted in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

A jury has found Duane 'Keffe D' Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades. Photo: Steve Marcus/Pool Photo via AP

Jurors have reached a guilty verdict after less than three hours of deliberations on Monday in the trial of Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.

The deliberations, which followed closing arguments earlier on Monday, came after nine days of testimony from detectives, former gang associates and documentarians.

The trial has revisited the night nearly 30 years ago when Shakur was shot while on his way to perform at a club in Las Vegas.

Davis is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s 1996 death after he previously said he was in the Cadillac when it pulled up beside Shakur and gunfire erupted.

Prosecutors argue Davis orchestrated the shooting, but his lawyer argues there is no physical evidence connecting his client to the crime.

Chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments earlier Monday that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion 'Suge' Knight after the men had beat up Davis’s nephew earlier that night.

“He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur,” Mr Palal said. “Tell him you hear him. Find him guilty.” 

Rapper Tupac Shakur. Picture: AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File

Prosecutors said that while his story had changed over the years, Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

And they said that while he did not pull the trigger, evidence showed he had called for the gunfire as a powerful gang leader the younger men in the car, including his nephew, were going to listen to.

Defence lawyer Michael Sanft asked jurors if there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.

The prosecution said the state would dismiss a gang enhancement charge due to witness logistics.

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.

Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. 

He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.

For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the backseat, calling the shooting a retaliation for the earlier beating of his nephew.

Davis was the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac.

Witnesses described the hostile rivalry between the Los Angeles gang sects Mob Piru, and Davis’ Southside Compton Crips leading up to Shakur’s death, and how the gangs became affiliated with Knight’s Death Row Records and Sean 'Diddy' Combs’ Bad Boy Records.

Mr Sanft, Davis’ attorney, argued there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting.

He said the book Davis co-authored and the public statements he made were dramatised bravado designed to make money, not to tell the truth.

Throughout the trial, Mr Sanft poked holes in the prosecution’s narrative.

He said investigators did not back up the claims made by his client, and he repeatedly pointed out a lack of physical evidence, such as phone records, that showed Davis was the shot caller.

“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on September 7 1996,” Mr Sanft said during his closing argument.

In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.

“This guy’s scrapbooking his murder, for God’s sake,” Mr DiGiacomo told jurors.

Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth”.

Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, prosecutors argued the central account did not.

Mr Sanft also turned to his client’s memoir during his closing argument.

While reading an excerpt, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching in an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.

In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis would not say who pulled the trigger.