After 30 Years, Justice for Tupac: Duane "Keffe D" Davis Sentenced to 40 Years to Life
LAS VEGAS — Three decades after hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip, the only man ever charged in his killing will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was sentenced Tuesday by Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Carli Kierny to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, who was 25 and at the height of his career.
"You don't get to take a man from his family," Judge Kierny said before delivering the sentence. "You don't get to take his very life, his whole future from him, and just walk away from it. Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur."
"The world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas," she added. "It took us 30 years, but at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did on September 7, 1996."
For nearly three decades, Shakur's murder stood as one of America's most notorious cold cases. No murder weapon was ever recovered, witnesses abided by the gangs' "code of the streets," and physical evidence faded with time. The case broke on Davis's own words. The former leader of the South Side Compton Crips spoke openly in interviews, documentaries, and podcasts about his involvement — and published a 2019 memoir recounting his version of events. Prosecutors said that memoir effectively negated his proffer agreement with police.
Prosecutors argued Davis gathered men, cruised Las Vegas looking for Shakur, and handed the gun to the shooter in retaliation for a brawl between his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson and Shakur's entourage inside the MGM Grand casino hours earlier. Shakur was shot in the passenger seat of a BMW driven by Marion "Suge" Knight and died in hospital six days later.
On August 31, a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon after more than three hours of deliberation — the first and only conviction in the case.
In tearful testimony before sentencing, Shakur's younger sister Sekyiwa Shakur said their mother had raised him as a human rights activist with the potential to change the world. "He believed her," she said. "He went out in the world to do that. And I believe he would have done it."
Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told the court Davis was trying to profit off a killing he committed and deserved the maximum possible sentence. Per the Associated Press, Judge Kierny's sentence means Davis will not be eligible for parole until he is at least 100.
Davis spoke briefly in court, asking for items police took from his house, including his pictures. His lawyer, Michael Sanft, said he plans to appeal the conviction. The question of who actually pulled the trigger has never been conclusively decided. Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that night who is still alive.
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