All Eyez On Guilty: Tupac Trial Jury Reaches Verdict In ‘Poetic Justice’ Star’s 1996 Drive-By Shooting Death
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A Nevada jury has found Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a 63-year-old former Compton gang leader, guilty of first-degree murder over the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper and actor Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, bringing a resolution to one of hip-hop's longest-running unsolved cases. Davis, who had pleaded not guilty to murder with use of a deadly weapon, told the court immediately after the verdict that he intends to appeal. He was arrested in late 2023 and has remained in custody ever since; sentencing is set for 13 October, when Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny could impose a life term.
Jurors took under three hours to convict following closing arguments in the three-week trial, an outcome widely seen as unsurprising given Davis had previously admitted, including in his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend, to being in the Cadillac from which the fatal shots were fired. Shakur, 25, was hit by four bullets while riding in a car near the MGM Grand on the night of the Tyson-Seldon fight, and died in hospital six days later. His death, alongside the still-unsolved killing of the Notorious B.I.G. five months on, fuelled decades of speculation and numerous documentaries and dramas exploring the case.
- Ex-gang leader Keffe D convicted of Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder
- Jury deliberated under three hours; Davis says he will appeal
- Sentencing due 13 October; Davis faces possible life imprisonment
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Davis was convicted over the killing of Tupac Shakur, one of the most successful and influential rappers of the 1990s, who was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died six days later at the age of 25. No one was charged over the murder for more than 25 years, making it one of the most notorious unsolved cases in American music history, until Davis, a former Compton gang leader, was arrested in 2023 largely on the strength of admissions he had made in interviews and his own memoir.
The case has long been tangled up with a wider, still-unresolved saga of rivalry within the hip-hop world in the mid-1990s, including the unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G., and has drawn in numerous other well-known figures over the years, including Sean "Diddy" Combs and the late Suge Knight, without any of them facing charges over Shakur's death. The story has been picked over repeatedly in books, documentaries and films, reflecting Shakur's enduring standing as both a musician and actor.
The trial itself, held in Nevada, tested evidence built substantially around Davis's own past public statements rather than new physical evidence, which is why the case attracted close attention as a test of whether decades-old admissions could support a conviction. Davis has said he plans to appeal, meaning the legal process is not yet over even though a verdict has been reached.