A 1996 photo of rapper Tupac Shakur (L) and Marion “Suge” Knight is shown on screens during closing arguments in the Duane Davis murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 31, 2026. (Photo by STEVE MARCUS / POOL / AFP)
Las Vegas: Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former Los Angeles gang leader, was found guilty on Monday by a Las Vegas court of the 1996 murder of chart-topping rapper Tupac Shakur.
Thirty years after the rap legend's death, the jury found Davis, 63, guilty of murder after just a few hours of deliberation.
"Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon, guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon," the foreperson of the jury announced to the court.
Davis, who faces possible life in prison without parole, addressed Judge Carli Kierny after the verdict was announced and stated his intention to appeal.
Duane Davis pumps his fist as he is led out of a courtroom after a jury found him guilty in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, in Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Bizuayehu TESFAYE / POOL / AFP)
The one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips was accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur's entourage in Las Vegas.
"Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand," prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. "So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur."
Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.
According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.
Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that evening who is still alive.
The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, was wounded.
Duane Davis enters the courtroom before closing arguments in his murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 31, 2026. (Photo by STEVE MARCUS / POOL / AFP)
The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America's most famous cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it, and why.
Davis, whose Crips were one of a patchwork of rival gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 13.
