Ex-gang leader gets 40 years to life for rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder

Key points

• Duane "Keffe D" Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life for Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder.
• Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in Shakur's death.
• The case went unsolved for nearly 30 years until Davis spoke publicly about it.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was sentenced on Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison for the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence at a hearing in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In August, Davis, 63, was found guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is the only person charged in the death of Shakur, who was 25 when he died. The sentencing closed a cold case that had lasted about 30 years.

What the judge said

Kierny told Davis that he could not take Shakur from his family and walk away from it. "The world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas," she said.

Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said that whatever sentence the court imposed, Davis was "guaranteed to die" behind bars. He said Davis had tried to profit from a killing he committed and deserved the maximum sentence.

The world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas.

— Judge Carli Kierny

How the case was broken

Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, while in town for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight. Investigators said the shooting happened about two hours after a confrontation between Davis's nephew, Orlando Anderson, and Shakur's entourage.

In his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, Davis accused Shakur and his friends of assaulting his nephew and said he handed the murder weapon to two alleged accomplices in a white Cadillac who fired the fatal shots. Shakur, in the passenger seat of a black BMW stopped at a red light, died six days later.

Davis had long been a suspect, but investigators lacked evidence for an indictment. Prosecutors said his public statements voided the limited immunity he had received under a 2008 proffer agreement. Davis is the only person from the Cadillac that night who is still alive.

Family and reaction

Shakur's siblings Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur and Sekyiwa "Set" Shakur spoke at the sentencing. "This man's life mattered," Sekyiwa Shakur told the court, while her brother called the murder "devastating, heartbreaking and sad".

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said Shakur's family had endured years of Davis bragging about killing someone they loved. Davis briefly addressed the court, asking for the return of seized property including personal photographs. He declined to say more and said he would appeal.