Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, Reuters reported on Tuesday, October 13.
Davis, 63, received the sentence in Las Vegas following his first-degree murder conviction in August. He has said he intends to appeal.
The sentencing follows the guilty verdict previously reported by The Bureau Journal.
Family Addresses Sentencing Hearing
Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa, addressed Judge Carli Kierny, describing the ambitions their mother had nurtured in the rapper and the potential lost through his death.
The sentence marks another major development in a case that remained unresolved for nearly three decades before Davis’s arrest in 2023.
Prosecution Linked Shooting to Casino Fight
Prosecutors argued that Davis organised retaliation after Shakur and members of his entourage assaulted Davis’s nephew at the MGM Grand casino on September 7, 1996.
The groups were in Las Vegas on the night of the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match.
According to the prosecution’s account, Davis and three associates travelled in a white Cadillac looking for Shakur and Death Row Records executive Marion “Suge” Knight.
Shots were fired into their vehicle. Shakur was wounded and died six days later, aged 25.
Davis’s Statements Became Central Evidence
The case relied heavily on Davis’s accounts in interviews, his memoir and recorded conversations with investigators.
His defence argued during the trial that those statements were boastful and could not be independently corroborated.
A former detective acknowledged that he had been unable to verify Davis’s account, although he believed it. Davis did not testify.
Conviction Does Not Identify the Gunman
Davis was prosecuted for his role in organising the killing rather than for personally firing the fatal shots.
Reuters reported that the identity of the gunman had not been conclusively established. The three other men in the Cadillac have since died.
Davis’s planned appeal will now become the next stage of the legal proceedings.
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