By Sulyman Gobir
Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been found guilty of the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, ending one of the longest-running unsolved murder cases in the US music industry.
A Las Vegas jury convicted the 63-year-old former gang leader of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon after deliberating for several hours on Monday.
Davis faces the possibility of life imprisonment without parole. He told Judge Carli Kierny that he plans to appeal the conviction.
Prosecutors accused Davis of orchestrating the shooting after a confrontation involving Shakur and members of Davis’ gang at a Las Vegas casino.
They said Shakur and his associates had assaulted Davis’ nephew during the confrontation, prompting Davis to organise a retaliatory attack.
About two hours later, a white Cadillac pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight at a traffic light.
Prosecutors said Davis handed a gun to a passenger in the Cadillac and directed the person to shoot Shakur.
The rapper suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died six days later. Knight, who was driving the BMW, also suffered injuries.
Shakur had travelled to Las Vegas to attend a heavyweight boxing match involving Mike Tyson before the shooting.
Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was the only surviving occupant of the Cadillac and the only person charged in connection with Shakur’s murder.
The case remained unresolved for decades and generated widespread speculation over who organised and carried out the killing.
Davis’ conviction now provides a legal verdict in a case that has remained a major subject of public interest since Shakur’s death.
Edited by Julian Osamoto
