The Tupac case, after 30 years: A conviction in the killing that never left hip-hop

For nearly three decades, the killing of Tupac Shakur existed in the space between a police investigation and a piece of hip-hop mythology. On Monday, a Las Vegas jury gave the case something it had not had since the rapper was shot in 1996, a conviction.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, was found guilty of orchestrating Shakur’s killing. The jury convicted him of one count of murder with a deadly weapon after deliberating for less than three hours following a weekslong trial.

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Davis could be sentenced to life in prison.

After the verdict was read, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors. Davis’ son covered his face with one hand.

The verdict followed years of public statements by Davis about the night Shakur was killed — accounts that prosecutors said placed him inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired and established his role in what happened.

The night in Las Vegas

Tupac was in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. Earlier that night, he and members of his entourage had been involved in a fight with Davis’ nephew.

Later that evening, the rapper was travelling with Marion “Suge” Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records. At a red light, a white Cadillac pulled alongside their vehicle. Shots were fired.

Shakur was wounded and died six days later. Knight was also shot but survived. No one was charged in Shakur’s killing for years.

Davis eventually began speaking publicly about the shooting. In interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, he said he had been inside the Cadillac and had obtained the gun that was passed to the men in the back seat.

He did not identify the person who fired the shots.

Davis was the only surviving member of the four men prosecutors said were inside the Cadillac that night.

A case built around Davis’ own words

For prosecutors, those statements became central to the case. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis had obtained a gun and “went hunting” for Tupac and Knight after the earlier confrontation involving his nephew.

“He is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur,” Palal said. “Tell him you hear him. Find him guilty.”

Prosecutors argued that Davis did not need to have pulled the trigger to be responsible for the murder. They said he was a powerful gang leader whose instructions would have been followed by the younger men in the Cadillac.

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They also pointed to the different accounts Davis had given over the years while maintaining that he was in the vehicle from which the gunfire came.

Davis’ defence challenged that account.

Attorney Michael Sanft argued that there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting and questioned whether prosecutors had established that Davis had actually directed the killing.

He asked jurors whether there was evidence that Davis had ever “called the shots” before or after the shooting.

“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996,” Sanft said.

The defence argued that Davis’ public statements and his memoir were exaggerated accounts intended to make money and build his reputation rather than truthful descriptions of the shooting.

The scrapbook and the “real truth”

Davis’ own words remained at the centre of the prosecution’s closing argument. Palal held up Compton Street Legend and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy the book to hear the “real truth”.

The memoir contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed. Prosecutors nevertheless argued that its central account of the shooting was genuine.

Another piece of evidence drew an even sharper response. Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo showed jurors a scrapbook Davis had kept containing newspaper articles about Shakur.

“This guy's scrapbooking his murder, for God's sake,” DiGiacomo told jurors.

During his own closing argument, Sanft also referred to Davis’ memoir. While reading from it, he said the N-word aloud, prompting people watching from an overflow courtroom to recoil and shake their heads.

The rivalry behind the shooting

The trial also traced the gang and record-label rivalries that surrounded Shakur in the final months of his life.

Witnesses described tensions between the Los Angeles gang factions Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips. They also described the gangs’ affiliations with two rival record labels.

Mob Piru was associated with Knight’s Death Row Records, while the South Side Compton Crips was associated with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records.

The rivalry between the two labels formed part of the backdrop to the conflict surrounding Shakur and his circle.

The killing of The Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, also surfaced repeatedly during the trial. Wallace, one of the central figures at Bad Boy Records, was killed six months after Shakur.

Law enforcement witnesses said Davis had briefly been a suspect in Wallace’s killing before being ruled out.

That case remains unsolved.

The case that waited

The trial lasted nine days of testimony, with 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses appearing before a 16-member jury that included four alternates.

The prosecution also pursued a gang enhancement charge but said it would dismiss it because of difficulties involving witnesses.

The case against Davis ultimately rested on a combination of his own accounts, witness testimony about the events surrounding Shakur’s death and the prosecution’s argument that Davis, rather than the person who fired the gun, was responsible for setting the shooting in motion.

The defence maintained that the prosecution had not produced physical evidence proving Davis was the shot-caller.

The jury rejected that argument.

Nearly 30 years after the white Cadillac pulled alongside Shakur’s car in Las Vegas, the case has produced a verdict — and a conviction for the only surviving member of the group prosecutors said was inside it.