Today's Edition
LAS VEGAS (AFP)
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former Los Angeles gang leader, was found guilty on Monday by a Las Vegas court of the 1996 murder of chart-topping rapper Tupac Shakur.
Thirty years after the rap legend's death, the jury found Davis, 63, guilty of murder after just a few hours of deliberation.
“Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon, guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon,” the foreperson of the jury announced to the court.
Davis, who faces possible life in prison without parole, addressed Judge Carli Kierny after the verdict was announced and stated his intention to appeal.
He was accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur's entourage in Las Vegas.
Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the casino confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.
According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.
The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America's most famous cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it, and why. Davis, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.
The investigation into Shakur's murder sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis's memoirs were published in 2019.
In that book, Davis recounted that he was in the front seat of the Cadillac and that he handed a pistol to those in the back seat. But he does not say who opened fire on Shakur.
Shakur, who was 25 when he died, was known for hits such as "California Love" nd "All Eyez on Me". He was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, and became the epitome of California hip hop when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.
