Former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced in Las Vegas for orchestrating the 1996 murder of the rapper Tupac Shakur, and he says he will appeal.
The two outlets cited in this report give the sentence in different words. The Guardian reported that Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life. BBC News reported that he was sentenced to at least 40 years. Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence on Tuesday, according to the BBC.
Asked by the judge if he had anything to say, Davis said: “I’m good. I’m gonna appeal this case for sure,” according to the BBC.
Davis, 63, was found guilty by a jury in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon, the BBC reported. According to The Guardian, he is the only person convicted in connection with the murder.
Judge Kierny said, according to the BBC: “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 world never forgot about him and his death.”
The Family’s Words in Court
Two members of Shakur’s family addressed the court.
Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, asked for the maximum sentence, the BBC reported.
“The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my family,” she said to the court, according to the BBC.
“He was who God trusted to take care of me,” she told the court, The Guardian reported.
Maurice Shakur also addressed the court. The BBC describes him as Shakur’s brother, and The Guardian as his stepbrother. The BBC’s account of what he said includes the words “the longest possible sentence”.
Convicted on His Own Account
Prosecutors argued that Davis did not fire the gun but was the ringleader, the BBC reported. In their account he ordered the shooting and supplied the gun that his nephew, Orlando Anderson, used. Anderson died in an unrelated shooting in 1998, according to the BBC. He had denied involvement.
In 2008, in a secret police interview, Davis described his role in the shooting, the BBC reported. He spoke under a deal that shielded him from prosecution.
His 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and his interviews with the media voided the agreement, according to the BBC.
He was arrested in 2023, The Guardian reported. A jury convicted him in September, and Judge Kierny sentenced him on Tuesday, the BBC reported.
The Shooting in 1996
Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996, the BBC reported. He was 25.
According to The Guardian, the shooting happened near the Las Vegas strip, shortly after a Mike Tyson boxing match, and Shakur died days later.
He has sold more than 75 million records, the BBC reported.
An Appeal Still to Come
Davis said in court that he would appeal, the BBC reported.
Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo argued that Davis had spent years “publicly grandstanding” about his role, according to the BBC. His defence argued that his comments were bravado to sell books, the BBC reported.
Buzzline’s other reporting on trials and sentences is in the Crime & Courts section.
Sources: BBC News, “Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis sentenced to 40 years for rapper Tupac Shakur’s murder”, 13 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c60rln2jvv2zo); The Guardian, “Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis sentenced to 40 years to life over Tupac Shakur’s murder”, 13 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/13/duane-davis-sentencing-tupac-shakur-murder)
Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Stock photograph of a wooden gavel, taken in 2017. Nothing in it comes from the Las Vegas hearing.
