Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was killed in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting, a former gang leader has been convicted of orchestrating the murder, bringing the long-running case to its first criminal conviction.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, was on Monday found guilty of one count of murder with a deadly weapon over Shakur's death on September 7, 1996.
Davis, 63, remained calm as the verdict was delivered at a Las Vegas court. He later told the judge that he intended to challenge the conviction, while members of Shakur's family reacted emotionally, holding hands, embracing and crying.
Shakur was 25 when he was shot at the height of a career that made him one of the most influential figures in rap music. He went on to sell more than 75 million records around the world.
Prosecutors told jurors that Davis was not the person who pulled the trigger but was responsible for arranging the attack. They said he provided the gun used by his nephew, Orlando Anderson, who they alleged opened fire on Shakur.
The prosecution said the killing was planned as revenge after Anderson became involved in a fight with Shakur and members of the rapper's group in Las Vegas only hours before the shooting.
The case remained unresolved for almost 30 years, becoming one of the best-known unsolved killings in American music and leading to years of theories and speculation.
The murder also took place during a period of fierce competition between the East Coast and West Coast rap scenes, alongside long-running tensions between the Bloods and Crips gangs, which had become closely linked to parts of hip-hop culture.
Davis' own statements became a major part of the prosecution's case. He had repeatedly spoken publicly about being inside the white Cadillac from which the shots that killed Shakur were fired.
Authorities also relied on statements Davis gave during a secret police interview in 2008 while investigators were looking into the death of fellow rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace.
Davis later gave more details about his involvement in his 2019 memoir, "Compton Street Legend".
His later public comments and the publication of his memoir affected a protective agreement he had reached with authorities. The agreement had prevented criminal charges against him, but a court later ruled that his 2008 police interview could be used as evidence during the murder trial.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Binu Palal pointed to Davis' repeated accounts of his involvement and urged jurors to accept his own descriptions of what happened.
For years, he argued, Davis had been telling people "that he is responsible for Tupac Shakur's murder" through documentaries, his memoir, podcasts and a police interview.
"He's the shot caller - in every instance in every iteration he's the leader of the South Side Crips," Palal told the jury.
"When you have the shot caller sitting shotgun when shots are fired, there's no doubt he's responsible."
Davis' defence team took a different position, arguing that his public claims about the killing were made up to attract attention and generate money from his books and media appearances.
His lawyer, Michael Sanft, asked jurors to view Davis as an unreliable storyteller whose claims could not be trusted.
"There's no proof," he told the jury.
The defence argument failed to persuade the jury, which reached its guilty verdict within hours of receiving the case on Monday.
A 1996 photo of rapper Tupac Shakur (L) and Marion "Suge" Knight displayed during the murder trial
Outside the courthouse, Shakur's supporters reacted with tears and cheers as news of the conviction spread. Inside, members of his family continued to show their emotions, with his sister embracing one of the prosecutors after the verdict while others cried nearby.
Before the court session ended, Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny scheduled Davis' sentencing for October 13.
During a discussion of procedural matters, Davis raised his hand and asked the judge about personal belongings that had been taken from him, including his phone.
"I would like my stuff," he told the judge.
He then made clear that he planned to challenge the outcome.
"I would like to appeal this matter."
The judge told him that an appeal could be pursued after sentencing, leaving the nearly 30-year-old murder case with its first conviction but not necessarily its final legal chapter