Duane “Keffe D” Davis Launches Appeal After Lawyer’s Death

Duane “Keffe D” Davis has formally appealed his murder conviction, but the lawyer who filed the notice will not be there to argue the case. Michael Sanft submitted the appeal on Oct. 30 and died about a week later, leaving Davis facing the next stage of the high-profile case without the attorney who represented him at trial. The Nevada Supreme Court’s clerk filed the appeal electronically on Monday, Nov. 9, according to court documents reported by KSNV in Las Vegas. The filing puts the challenge to Davis’ conviction on the court’s docket, though it remains unclear who will take over the work after Sanft’s death. A jury found Davis guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon in the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur. Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. Shakur was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died several days later, aged 25. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis was arrested in 2023. Prosecutors argued that Davis arranged the shooting as retaliation after a confrontation between Shakur and Davis’ nephew at a Las Vegas casino. Their case relied heavily on Davis’ statements in interviews with the media and law enforcement over the years. At trial, Sanft argued that Davis had exaggerated or fabricated his role to profit from a memoir and documentary interviews. He also told jurors that there was no evidence placing Davis in Las Vegas when the shooting happened. Davis published Compton Street Legend in 2019 and had spoken publicly about the incident long before his arrest. The appeal now moves forward with a demanding schedule. The court has given Davis two weeks to request trial transcripts, three weeks to file a docketing statement and 120 days to submit his opening brief. The filings establish deadlines, but the report does not say who will represent Davis in the appeal.