Jury convicts a man of first-degree murder for the 1996 killing of rap
icon Tupac Shakur
[September 01, 2026]
By JESSICA HILL and JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of
orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, finally
bringing a measure of resolution to a case that had gripped hip-hop fans
and lingered in the public imagination for decades.
The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of a single count of murder
with a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury
deliberated for less than three hours after a weekslong trial in Las
Vegas.
After the verdict was read, Shakur's sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried
and hugged the prosecutors. Davis’ son covered his face with one hand.
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 beaten up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
“He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur,” Palal said. "Tell him
you hear him. Find him guilty.”
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'd called for the gunfire as a powerful gang leader
the younger men in the car, including his nephew, were going to listen
to.
Defense attorney 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 defense witnesses over nine
days.
The prosecution said the state would dismiss a gang enhancement charge
due to witness logistics. Prosecutors declined to comment following the
verdict, and members of Shakur's family said they were waiting until
sentencing, which is scheduled for October.
The decades-old case has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and
crime experts alike
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 Sept. 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 is 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.
Defense argued public statements were untrue, and physical evidence
was lacking
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 dramatized bravado designed to make
money, not to tell the truth.
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Duane Davis gestures as he is led out of a courtroom after a jury
found him guilty of first-degree murder in his trial related to the
1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court
Regional Justice Center, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu
Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)
 Throughout the trial, Sanft poked
holes in prosecutors’ 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 Sept. 7, 1996,” 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,” DiGiacomo told
jurors.
Davis' own words were front and center
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.
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 wouldn’t say who
pulled the trigger.
Gang and record label rivalries provided the backdrop
While insisting Davis' words alone were enough to convict him,
prosecutors said a gang rivalry helped explain why the shooting
happened.
Witnesses described the hostile rivalry between the Los Angeles gang
sects leading up to Shakur’s death, and how the gangs became
affiliated with two rival labels — Mob Piru with Knight's Death Row
Records and the South Side Compton Crips with Sean “Diddy” Combs'
Bad Boy Records.
The shooting death of Bad Boy's the Notorious B.I.G. six months
after Shakur came up many times during the trial, with law
enforcement witnesses saying Davis was briefly a suspect in that
killing before being discounted. That case, which has also been an
obsession of hip-hop fans, remains unsolved.
___
Landrum Jr. reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists
Rio Yamat in Las Vegas and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed
to this report.
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