Duane 'Keffe D' Davis sentenced to 40 years to life for Tupac Shakur killing

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the only person ever prosecuted in the 1996 shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur, received a prison term of 40 years to life on Tuesday in Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported in coverage carried by PBS NewsHour and the Anchorage Daily News.

A jury convicted the 63-year-old in August on a charge of first-degree murder involving a deadly weapon. Shakur, 25 and among the most popular figures in music at the time, was wounded near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996, and died six days afterward.

According to CNN, whose report ran on WISH-TV, Davis had chosen at the start of the trial to let the judge, rather than jurors, decide his punishment. "Took us 30 years, but at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did on September 7, 1996," Judge Carli Kierny said, CNN reported. CNN also said Davis will get credit for 731 days already served. A FOX5 report published by Cleveland 19 noted Davis was taken into custody in September 2023 and has remained there since.

The AP reported that prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo asked for the harshest available sentence, saying Davis sought to make money from the killing. Davis addressed the court only briefly, requesting that items seized from his house, such as photos, be given back. Defense lawyer Michael Sanft said an appeal is planned and contended the state took too long to file charges.

Two of Shakur's relatives, sister Sekyiwa Shakur and stepbrother Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, spoke at the hearing. "The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my entire family, emotionally and mentally," his sister said, according to CNN.

For nearly three decades the killing remained unsolved. CNN reported investigators never found the weapon and faced witnesses unwilling to talk. The prosecution leaned heavily on what Davis himself had said to police, in documentaries and podcasts, and in a memoir released in 2019. Prosecutors argued, per CNN, that publishing the book canceled a prior deal shielding his statements to police from use against him.

The state never alleged Davis was the shooter. Instead, prosecutors said the former South Side Compton Crips leader planned the attack and provided the firearm as payback for a fight at the MGM Grand that night between Shakur's companions and Davis's nephew. Shakur was a passenger in a BMW driven alongside Marion "Suge" Knight, who survived. According to the AP, the other three men said to have been in the attackers' car are dead.

Davis's lawyers argued no physical proof tied him to the crime and described him as a man lying for profit. The AP said jurors took three hours to reach a verdict; Cleveland 19 put it at under three hours.

The AP reported that Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said prosecutors currently lack the evidence needed to bring charges against anyone else.

Compiled by True News from reporting by Cleveland 19, WISH-TV, Anchorage Daily News and PBS NewsHour. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/100