Duane Davis sentenced to 40 years to life in Tupac Shakur murder case

Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. A Las Vegas judge handed down the sentence nearly three decades after Shakur was shot while travelling in a car near the Las Vegas Strip. Judge Carli Kierny said Davis must face justice for the killing, which took Shakur’s life and future. Shakur was 25 when he was shot. He was riding with Marion “Suge” Knight and died six days later. Davis was not accused of firing the shots himself; prosecutors argued that he helped organise the attack. The prosecution said the shooting was retaliation for an earlier fight at the MGM Grand involving Shakur’s entourage and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson. That confrontation took place earlier on the night of the killing, prosecutors argued, and formed part of their account of why the attack was arranged. The case remained unsolved for almost 30 years. Investigators did not recover the murder weapon and faced difficulties obtaining information from witnesses. Prosecutors eventually relied on Davis’ own statements made in interviews, documentaries and podcasts, along with a memoir he published in 2019, to build their case, according to the report. Davis also received credit for 731 days already served toward his sentence. The ruling brings a major development in a case that remained unresolved for decades after Shakur’s death. The report identifies Davis as the person prosecutors said orchestrated the killing, while making clear that he was not alleged to have personally pulled the trigger.