Duane “Keffe D” Davis Convicted of Murder With Deadly Weapon in 1996 Tupac Shakur Killing

Former South Side Compton Crips member Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, was convicted on August 31 of one count of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the September 1996 shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur in Paradise, Nevada. The jury returned its verdict after roughly three hours of deliberation. Davis faces a possible life sentence at a sentencing hearing scheduled for October 13. He has stated in court that he intends to appeal the conviction.

Shakur was shot four times while riding in a vehicle on the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996, and died six days later. Prosecutors described Davis as the on-site leader of the group that carried out the attack. Much of the evidence presented at trial came from statements Davis made in his 2019 memoir, *Compton Street Legend*, and in subsequent interviews. Clark County prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told the court that without the book, Davis “would not, probably, have ever been prosecuted for the crime.”

Davis was born in Watts, California, and later moved to Compton. According to passages from the memoir reviewed by CBS News, his family home was purchased with money his father, a Marine from Virginia, won at a racetrack in Mexico. His mother, originally from Texas, died of colon cancer when Davis was 15. Two of his 12 siblings also died later, one from cancer and one from a gunshot wound.

Davis wrote that he became affiliated with the South Side Compton Crips in 1971 and began selling drugs for the group. He also described meeting Death Row Records chief executive Marion “Suge” Knight when he was nine years old. By 1996, Davis was a senior member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Police have stated that Shakur and Knight were involved in an altercation with Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier on the day of the shooting. Authorities alleged that Davis organized a response and was inside a white Cadillac alongside Anderson, Terrance Brown, and Deandre Smith when shots were fired at Shakur’s vehicle. Davis is the only person believed to have been in that Cadillac who is still alive.

In an excerpt from the memoir published by The Guardian, Davis wrote that no words were exchanged before the shooting began. He described Shakur reaching beneath his seat, after which “one of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.” Defense attorney Michael Sanft argued during trial that Davis had exaggerated or fabricated details in the book to increase sales and that Anderson, not Davis, fired the shots.

Davis was arrested in 2023. Prosecutors noted that his public statements, including those in the memoir and interviews, prompted renewed investigative focus on him. He had previously served time in the 1980s on drug-related charges, according to his own account in the memoir. After his 2023 arrest, Davis was convicted in 2025 of battery stemming from a jailhouse fight that occurred the previous year.

At trial, which began August 10, prosecutor Binu Palal described Davis as “the shot caller” and “the leader of the South Side Crips,” arguing that his position in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac established his responsibility. The defense maintained that the memoir contained untruths intended to boost commercial appeal and that no physical evidence placed Davis in the role of shooter or direct order-giver.

Davis’s mug shot was introduced as an exhibit. After the verdict, the court set the October 13 sentencing date. No other individuals have been convicted in the case.