A former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, capping the prosecution of a long-unsolved murder that shaped the golden age of rap music.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, found guilty by a jury in August of first-degree murder, showed no emotion as he was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 20 years to life - one for murder, one for use of a deadly weapon - during an hour-long proceeding in a Las Vegas courtroom.
Shackled at the waist and dressed in blue prison garb, he argued briefly with the judge over how much credit he was due for time already served but said little else during the hearing.
When given the opportunity to formally address the court for the last time, he said, “I just want my stuff back that they took out of my house,” referring to evidence removed from his residence by investigators.
Legacy of violence
Until Davis' 2023 arrest, the killing of Shakur, shot in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by his record executive, Marion “Suge” Knight, had stood for nearly three decades as one of America's most notorious cold cases.
Despite the murder conviction of Davis, the only person ever charged in connection with Shakur's killing, the question of who pulled the trigger in the fatal shooting of the 25-year-old rap legend has never been conclusively decided.
Shakur became arguably more popular in death than in life. His fourth studio album “All Eyez on Me,” released months before his murder, celebrated his own outlaw image. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
In a tearful victim-impact statement delivered in court on Tuesday, the slain rapper's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, 51, said their mother “raised him to be a human rights activist” and tried to instill in him a belief that he could change the world for the better.
‘The world never forgot’
Davis was tried and convicted for masterminding the murder to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of the rapper's entourage inside the MGM Grand casino on the Las Vegas Strip on 7 September 1996.
Authorities said they long believed Davis was involved in Shakur's killing but lacked sufficient evidence to charge him.
That changed when he went public with his story in media appearances and a memoir that, along with tapes of his secret meetings with investigators, formed the bulk of the prosecution’s murder case.
In his book, “Compton Street Legend,” Davis himself wrote he was considered a suspect in the murders of both Shakur and Christopher Wallace, a rival rapper.
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