Duane “Keffe D” Davis has maintained his innocence after being found guilty of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.
The 63-year-old former South Side Compton Crips leader was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with Shakur’s death on 7 September 1996. The rapper was 25 when he was shot while travelling in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.
Davis told the judge after the verdict that he intended to appeal. His defence has argued that earlier accounts in which he described his involvement were fabricated or exaggerated for financial gain.
Prosecutors said Davis helped organise the attack and provided the weapon used in the shooting. Their case relied heavily on recorded interviews and statements he had made over the years, including accounts identifying his nephew, Orlando Anderson, as the gunman.
Anderson, who was also involved in the confrontation with Shakur’s entourage at the MGM Grand earlier that night, died in 1998 and was never charged in the rapper’s killing.
The verdict, returned after less than three hours of deliberations, was the first conviction in the nearly 30-year-old case. Davis remains in custody and could spend the rest of his life in prison when he is sentenced in October.
