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Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, three decades after the murder of Tupac Shakur.
The California Love rapper, also known as 2Pac, was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, at the age of 25, while driving with Marion ‘Suge’ Knight.
He died almost a week later in hospital, succumbing to his multiple gunshot wounds, which included two bullets in his chest.
As she passed the sentence, Judge Carli Kierny told Davis: ‘You don’t get to take a man from his family. You don’t get to take his very life, his whole future from him, and just walk away from it, especially when that man is Tupac Shakur.’
She continued: ‘The world never forgot about his death and neither did Las Vegas. Took us 30 years but at this time you are going to face justice for what you did.’
Last month, a jury found Davis, 63, guilty of the drive-by shooting, which was said to be related to a feud between East and West Coast gangs.
It’s claimed that Shakur had fought with Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand during a Mike Tyson boxing match.
Prosecutor Binu Palal told jurors that Davis had been upset by the beating, acquired a gun, and ‘went hunting’ for the rapper.
The murder had long been considered a cold case due to lack of evidence, but in 2019 Davis published his memoir, sharing his account of the shooting.
In 2023, the former gang boss was arrested and charged with murder for orchestrating the events that led to Shakur being shot dead.
He has never been accused of firing the gun himself, but under Nevada law, a person can still be charged with first-degree murder.
It’s also believed that Davis was inside the white Cadillac when his nephew fired the shots. Anderson was never charged with the murder and denied involvement. He died in an unrelated gang shooting in 1998.
Although he did not testify in his own defence, Davis’ YouTube videos and book promotion were used as evidence in the trial.
Michael Sanft, Davis’ attorney, had argued that the claims were dramatised to sell his memoir and were untrustworthy.
The jury is said to have taken under three hours to reach a unanimous verdict, prompting Shakur’s family to celebrate outside the court.
Davis has been sentenced to 40 years in prison but has said he will appeal the verdict.