Las Vegas jury convicts ex-gang leader Duane Davis of murder in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

The verdict in Las Vegas

A Las Vegas jury found Duane "Keffe D" Davis guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, August 31, concluding a two-week trial over the September 7, 1996, killing of Tupac Shakur. Jurors deliberated for three hours before returning the verdict against the 63-year-old former South Side Compton Crips leader, who faces up to life in prison without parole. Clark County prosecutors presented the drive-by shooting as gang retaliation for an altercation inside the MGM Grand casino about two hours earlier. Following a Mike Tyson boxing match, Shakur, Death Row Records executive Marion "Suge" Knight, and Mob Piru Bloods associates assaulted Davis's nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson. Prosecutors argued that Davis secured a loaded.40-caliber Glock pistol and rode in the front seat of a white Cadillac to carry out the retaliatory ambush.

Confessions without physical evidence

The state's case, presented by Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal, rested almost entirely on Davis's own accounts given across nearly 18 years. Authorities never recovered the murder weapon, never found the white Cadillac, and lacked documentation placing Davis in Nevada on the night of the crime. Jurors instead heard recordings from a 2008 proffer interview with federal investigators, a subsequent interview with Las Vegas homicide detectives, podcast appearances, BET's Death Row Chronicles docuseries, and Davis's 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. Defense attorney Michael Sanft argued that Davis was an unreliable narrator and fabulist who invented stories to profit from long-standing rumors.

When they gave the guilty verdict, I was just like, finally, yes. [The jurors] really got it. They were able to see through all the smoke, to see this case for what it is: Basically, Keffe talked himself into prison.

Investigation origins and task force testimony

The path to Davis's indictment in September 2023 began in 2008, when task force detectives Greg Kading and Daryn Dupree questioned him regarding the unsolved killing of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. Seeking to avoid a life sentence in an unrelated drug trafficking case, Davis denied involvement in Wallace's death but offered information on the Shakur shooting. Former detective Kading celebrated the verdict at his home in Southern California, noting that the outcome validated the task force's earlier work. Music producer Paul Stewart, who worked with Shakur on the soundtrack for the film Poetic Justice, described the verdict as overdue accountability for the musician's family and cultural memory.

Family responses and lingering doubts

Following the verdict, Shakur's sister Sekyiwa Shakur embraced supporters in the courtroom and issued a statement honoring their mother, Afeni Shakur, while thanking the jury for reviewing the evidence. The outcome, however, left some close to Shakur with unresolved doubts regarding the prosecution's methods. Shakur's father, William Garland, criticized the state on social media and in interviews for relying on statements from an admitted gang member rather than forensic proof. Both passengers suspected of firing from the back seat of the Cadillac, including Anderson, died years before the trial took place.

Above all, we honor Afeni Shakur -- a mother whose strength and unshakable belief in her son's truth carried this fight long before any of us knew where it would lead.

This information has been out there for years and years -- why now?