Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former Los Angeles gang leader convicted of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, has been sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison.
The 63-year-old was sentenced on Tuesday in a Las Vegas courtroom, nearly 30 years after Shakur was shot at a traffic light in the Nevada city.
Judge Carli Kierny told Davis that he could not escape accountability for taking the life of another person, despite years of statements suggesting he had moved on from his past.
“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,” the judge said.
Davis, a former leader of a branch of the Crips gang, had spoken about his involvement in the killing for years, including in a memoir, but denied the allegations when he stood trial. He has vowed to appeal his conviction.
Prosecutors told the court that Davis ordered the killing after his nephew was beaten by members of Shakur’s entourage during a confrontation at a Las Vegas casino on September 7, 1996.
About two hours after the altercation, a white Cadillac pulled alongside the BMW carrying Shakur at a traffic light, and a passenger opened fire. Shakur, who was 25, died six days later from his injuries.
Davis was the only surviving occupant of the Cadillac, while the identity of the person who fired the shots has not been definitively established. Marion “Suge” Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and the driver of the BMW, was wounded in the shooting.
Shakur, widely known as 2Pac, was one of the most influential figures in hip-hop and a central figure in the rivalry between the US East Coast and West Coast rap scenes during the 1990s.
Born in New York, he was raised in Harlem and Baltimore before becoming a leading figure in California hip-hop after signing with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records. His hits included “California Love” and “All Eyez on Me”.
His killing became one of the most prominent unsolved cases in American music history, fuelling decades of speculation before Davis was prosecuted.
During Tuesday’s sentencing, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, paid an emotional tribute to her brother, describing him as an icon who was committed to human rights and helping others.
She said their mother raised him to stand up for vulnerable people, adding that he was protective of his family, kind to women and children, and generous to those in need.
Davis offered no apology before the sentence was handed down and said he intended to challenge the conviction on appeal.
