OTTAWA — A Las Vegas jury convicted former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder Monday for orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed rap icon Tupac Shakur.The verdict was returned after less than three hours of deliberations, nearly 30 years after Shakur was gunned down near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in the killing and faces life in prison.Prosecutors argued Davis effectively built the case against himself through years of statements to police, documentary filmmakers and journalists, along with details included in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors Davis was the one person involved in the shooting who “has a hard time being silent.”Prosecutors accused Davis of repeatedly bragging about his role in the killing.“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger,” Palal told the court. “But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew.”.Prosecutors said Davis obtained a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after their entourage assaulted Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, inside the MGM Grand earlier that night.Shakur was riding in the passenger seat of a BMW driven by Knight on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them at a red light and someone opened fire.Shakur was struck several times and died six days later at the age of 25. Knight was wounded but survived.Davis admitted in several interviews that he was sitting in the Cadillac’s front passenger seat and handed a gun to the men in the back. His accounts differed over whether Anderson or Deandrae “Freaky” Smith fired the fatal shots.The other three men who were inside the Cadillac have since died.Prosecutors focused on four accounts Davis provided: a 2008 interview with federal investigators, a 2009 interview with Las Vegas police, a 2017 documentary appearance and his memoir.Palal argued Davis revealed details that had not been publicly reported, including the movements of another vehicle travelling with Shakur’s entourage after the shooting.Under Nevada law, a person who assists or directs a killing can be convicted of murder even without firing the weapon.Defence lawyer Michael Sanft argued Davis’s accounts were fabricated “braggadocio” intended to sell books and raise his public profile. He said prosecutors lacked physical evidence, including phone records, forensic material or financial documents, connecting Davis to the shooting.Sanft described the prosecution’s narrative as “fiction” and argued investigators had previously declined to charge Davis because they did not believe him.Jurors instead accepted the prosecution’s argument that Davis’s own words, supported by evidence surrounding the shooting and its alleged motive, proved he organized the attack.A judge will impose Davis’s sentence at a later date. The Associated Press reported the jury will not make a sentencing recommendation.
