Duane “Keffe D” Davis, an ex-gang leader, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996.
In August, the 63-year-old was found guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon. At the conclusion of the two-week trial, jurors took less than three hours to convict him. Davis had five other convictions and publicly boasted about the murder, resulting in Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal asking for the maximum possible sentence.
The sentence comes more than 30 years after Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. The rapper died six days after being shot.
Davis has been the only person convicted in Shakur’s murder despite not being accused of firing the fatal shots. Prosecutors instead argued he provided the gun and facilitated the killing.
After the 1996 murder, the case went unsolved for decades. In 2019, Davis self-published a memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” where he described being involved in the rapper’s death. He was arrested in September 2023 and, despite his memoir describing himself as the “shot caller” in the murder, pleaded not guilty.
Members of Shakur’s family gave victim impact statements in court before Judge Carli Kierny announced her ruling. Davis’s lawyer said he planned to appeal the decision.
Six months after Shakur’s murder, another famous rapper, New York-based rapper Christopher Wallace, or “Biggie,” was killed. No charges were ever filed, and the two cases were never confirmed to be connected.