Keffe D sentenced to 40 years to life for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only person ever charged in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, was sentenced in Las Vegas to 40 years to life in prison, nearly 30 years after the drive-by shooting.

Ally Daily Editorial DeskOctober 14, 2026, 02:05 PMUpdated: October 14, 2026, 08:32 PM

Keffe D sentenced to 40 years to life for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder

A Las Vegas judge on Oct. 13 sentenced Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence two months after a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon following nine days of testimony and about three hours of deliberation.

Davis received two consecutive terms of 20 years to life, one for first-degree murder and another for the use of a deadly weapon.

Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s death. Asked whether he had anything to say, he told the court, “No, I’m good,” after asking for the return of photos and other items police took from his home.

“He deserves the maximum”

Tupac Shakur’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

“In my mind he deserves the maximum possible sentence,” prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said, arguing that Davis tried to profit from a killing he helped commit. Prosecutor Binu Palal said that to Shakur’s family the rapper was “a brother, a son, a cousin, a loved person ripped from them 30 years ago,” and that Davis’ “arrogance” in boasting about the killing “ultimately was his undoing.” Shakur’s siblings Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur and Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur addressed the court.

In her victim-impact statement, Sekyiwa Shakur told the court, “The loss of Tupac crippled my family emotionally,” describing her brother as an artist who dedicated his career to the advancement of his people and was gently kind to women and children. Mopreme Shakur spoke of the future his brother was denied: “Pac didn’t have a chance to have kids, he didn’t have a chance to see his nieces and nephews grow up.”

Before imposing the sentence, Judge Kierny told Davis, “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.” In a statement, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said no amount of time in prison could bring Shakur back, but he hoped the sentence would bring “some measure of closure and peace” to the family after nearly 30 years.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft argued that prosecutors waited far too long to bring the case and that no physical evidence tied Davis to the crime, portraying him as a liar trying to make money from his story. Sanft said he would appeal.

A Tupac Shakur mural (file photo)

Undone by his own words

Shakur was shot multiple times on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records chief Marion “Suge” Knight near the Las Vegas Strip, and died six days later. In his 2019 memoir and in interviews, Davis said he sat in the front passenger seat of the white Cadillac and passed the gun to the back seat, naming his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson as the shooter. Anderson and the two other men allegedly in the car have since died.

Davis had also claimed Sean “Diddy” Combs offered money to kill Shakur and Knight; Combs has denied any involvement. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said his office does not currently have enough evidence to charge anyone else but could consider new charges if more evidence emerges.

Keffe D sentenced to 40 years to life for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder