Former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to at least 40 years in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rap superstar Tupac Shakur.
Davis, 63, was convicted in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon over the drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996. He has said he will appeal the verdict.
Prosecutors argued that Davis ordered the killing and supplied the gun used by his nephew, Orlando Anderson, who they said opened fire on Shakur. Although Davis did not shoot the rapper himself, prosecutors described him as the ringleader behind the murder.
During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo accused Davis of spending years publicly boasting about his role in Shakur’s death, which he said had “wide-ranging effects upon the world.”
Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, told the court that her brother’s death had devastated their family. “The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my family.”
She added that Shakur had hoped to help his local community and had “so much promise” and “intentions for a better world.”
Sekyiwa asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence, telling Davis he would have time in prison to “contemplate what you’ve done to the world, not just to me.”
Shakur’s brother, Maurice Shakur, also asked the court to impose “the longest possible sentence.”
When Judge Carli Kierny asked Davis if he had anything to say before sentencing, he replied: “I’m good. I’m gonna appeal this case for sure.”
Kierny told Davis that he had taken a man away from his family and deprived him of his future.
“You don’t get to take his very life, his whole future from him, and just walk away from it,” she said. “Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur. The world never forgot about him and his death.”
Davis’ own statements formed key evidence in the case. He repeatedly acknowledged publicly that he was inside the white Cadillac from which the fatal shots were fired.
In a secret police interview in 2008, Davis described his role in Shakur’s killing in exchange for protection from criminal prosecution. The interview was conducted as part of an investigation into the death of fellow rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in a shooting months after Shakur.
Davis later expanded on his account in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and in media interviews.
Those public statements voided the protective agreement he had with authorities, allowing prosecutors to pursue charges. A judge subsequently ruled that his 2008 police interview could be used against him at trial.
Davis’ defence team argued during the trial that his statements were fabricated or exaggerated to sell books and make money.
His conviction was the first in the long-running investigation into Shakur’s murder, one of America’s most closely followed unsolved cases for nearly three decades.
Shakur was 25 and at the height of his career when he was killed. He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide and remains one of rap music’s most influential figures.
Anderson, whom prosecutors identified as the gunman, died in an unrelated shooting in 1998. He had denied involvement in Shakur’s killing.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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