Nearly 30 Years Later, Tupac Murder Case Ends In First Conviction

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, the long-running case has finally produced its first conviction.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former South Side Compton Crips leader who was the only person ever charged in the 1996 murder, was found guilty Monday (Aug. 31) of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The Las Vegas jury reached its verdict after less than three hours of deliberation. Davis, 63, could face life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for October. He said he plans to appeal.

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Davis was not accused of pulling the trigger. Prosecutors argued that he orchestrated the attack, obtained the gun and directed the younger men in the white Cadillac from which Shakur was shot. Their case centered in large part on Davis’ own words over the years, including statements to investigators, appearances in documentaries and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.

The defense maintained that those accounts were exaggerated or fabricated for money and notoriety, pointing to the absence of physical evidence independently placing Davis in the Cadillac that night. His attorney also argued that investigators had failed to corroborate important details of Davis’ various accounts. Davis himself did not testify during the trial.

The prosecution’s narrative dates back to an altercation earlier on Sept. 7, 1996, when Shakur and others beat up Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, during a casino confrontation. Later that night, Shakur was riding in a BMW with Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them at a red light. Gunfire struck Shakur multiple times; he died six days later at the age of 25. Knight survived.

The shooting unfolded against the backdrop of the gang and record-label rivalries that had become intertwined with hip-hop’s East Coast-West Coast conflict. Witnesses described the rivalry between the Mob Piru Bloods, associated with Shakur and Knight’s Death Row Records, and the South Side Compton Crips, with the latter linked to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records. The murder of the Notorious B.I.G. six months after Shakur’s death was also revisited during the trial; that case remains unsolved.

Davis’ own evolving account ultimately helped bring the case back into focus. Prosecutors presented statements from a 2008 federal interview, a 2009 interview with Las Vegas police, a 2017 documentary interview and his memoir. In those accounts, Davis repeatedly placed himself in the Cadillac and said he handed a gun to the men in the backseat, though he did not consistently identify the person who fired the fatal shots.

The verdict brought an emotional conclusion to a trial that had drawn Shakur’s family, longtime fans and a steady media presence to the Las Vegas courtroom. After the verdict was read, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged prosecutors, while Davis’ son covered his face with his hand.

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