{"id":611038,"date":"2026-09-01T09:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/611038\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:22:09","slug":"jury-convicts-former-gang-leader-of-murdering-rap-star-tupac-shakur-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/611038\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury convicts former gang leader of murdering rap star Tupac Shakur \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A jury has found Duane \u201cKeffe D\u201d Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac Shakur<\/a>, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades.<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old Davis was convicted on Monday of a single count of murder with a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for less than three hours after a weeks-long trial in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

After the verdict was read, Shakur\u2019s sister, Sekyiwa \u201cSet\u201d Shakur, cried and hugged the prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019s son covered his face with one hand.<\/p>\n

Chief deputy district attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments earlier on Monday that Davis acquired a gun and \u201cwent hunting\u201d for Shakur and Death Row Records cofounder Marion \u201cSuge\u201d Knight after the men beat up Davis\u2019s nephew earlier that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is responsible of the murder of Tupac Shakur,\u201d Palal said. \u201cTell him you hear him. Find him guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said that although his story had changed over the years, Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.<\/p>\n

And they said that although he did not pull the trigger, evidence showed he had called for the gunfire as a powerful gang leader the younger men in the car, including his nephew, were going to listen to.<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Michael Sanft asked jurors whether there was any evidence that Davis had ever called the shots before or after the shooting.<\/p>\n

\"FriendsFriends and family members of rapper Tupac Shakur, including his sister Sekyiwa Shakur, second left, line up to hug prosecutor Binu Palal. Photogrpah: Bizuayehu Tesfaye\/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP <\/p>\n

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom are alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.<\/p>\n

The prosecution said the state would dismiss a gang enhancement charge due to witness logistics.<\/p>\n

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.<\/p>\n

Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on September 7th, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.<\/p>\n

For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper\u2019s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat, calling the shooting a retaliation for the earlier beating of his nephew.<\/p>\n

Davis was the only person still alive among the four men prosecutors say were in the Cadillac.<\/p>\n

Witnesses described the hostile rivalry between the Los Angeles gang sects Mob Piru, and Davis\u2019s Southside Compton Crips leading up to Shakur\u2019s death, and how the gangs became affiliated with Knight\u2019s Death Row Records and Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019s Bad Boy Records.<\/p>\n

Sanft, Davis\u2019s attorney, argued there was no physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting.<\/p>\n

He said the book Davis co-authored and the public statements he made were dramatised bravado designed to make money, not to tell the truth.<\/p>\n

Throughout the trial, Sanft poked holes in the prosecution\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n

\"TupacTupac Shakur: mudered in Las Vegas on September 7th, 1996. Photograph: Frank Wiese\/AP <\/p>\n

He said investigators did not back up the claims made by his client, and he repeatedly pointed out a lack of physical evidence, such as phone records, that showed Davis was the shot caller.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on September 7th, 1996,\u201d Sanft said during his closing argument.<\/p>\n

In a rebuttal argument, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo pointed to a scrapbook Davis kept containing articles about Shakur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy\u2019s scrapbooking his murder, for God\u2019s sake,\u201d DiGiacomo told jurors.<\/p>\n

Palal held up Davis\u2019s 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and played an interview in which Davis encouraged people to buy it to get the \u201creal truth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although the book contains a disclaimer saying some facts were changed, prosecutors argued the central account did not.<\/p>\n

In multiple interviews, Davis said he handed the gun to the back seat, but in others as well as in his book, Davis would not say who pulled the trigger. \u2013 AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A jury has found Duane \u201cKeffe D\u201d Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap star Tupac…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,55727],"class_list":["post-611038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tupac-shakur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}