A jury has convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur.
The 63-year-old Davis was convicted on Monday of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for three hours after a weeks-long trial in Las Vegas.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.
Mr Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected Davis’ changing motivations and efforts to protect himself.
One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.
“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Mr Palal said.
Davis’ defence lawyer, Michael Sanft, challenged jurors to identify evidence outside Davis’ own statements that placed him in Las Vegas or inside the Cadillac on the night Shakur was shot.
He pointed to the absence of surveillance footage, phone records and other evidence putting Davis there.
“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” Mr Sanft said, pointing toward Davis.
The decades-old case has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and crime experts alike
Davis faced a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur’s killing.
The panel of 16 jurors heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.
The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.
Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.
Nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat.
Davis described the shooting as an act of retaliation after Knight and Shakur’s entourage beat up Davis’ nephew hours before the shooting.
Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime.
Davis is the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac. The man who prosecutors say originally gave the gun to Davis is also dead.
Mr Palal told jurors that if they believed Davis’ statements, they did not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.
Still, he pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson and testimony that members of Shakur’s circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting.
Witnesses had testified to the heated gang rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, which were associated with rival record companies Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records.
“Who fired is not the question,” Mr Palal said.
Prosecutors didn’t argue that Davis pulled the trigger, but instead that he was criminally responsible because he provided the gun and ordered the attack.
Mr Palal held up Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the “real truth”.
Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, Mr Palal argued that names, hotels and other details changed while the central account did not.
Mr Palal also rejected the defence’s contention that Davis fabricated his accounts to make money.