Former American gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for planning the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. This news was reported by BBC on Tuesday.
A jury found Davis guilty of one count of murder with a deadly weapon in September. This was linked to the drive-by shooting that killed Tupac in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.
Davis, who is 63 years old, plans to appeal the verdict. Prosecutors accused him of organizing the murder, even though he did not pull the trigger himself.
They claimed that Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, provided the gun used in the shooting. His nephew, Orlando Anderson, was the one who fired at Tupac.
Anderson denied he was involved in the murder and was killed in another shooting in 1998.
The BBC also reported that statements made by Davis were key evidence in the case. He admitted he was in the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.
In a secret police interview in 2008 about the murder of another rapper, Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., Davis shared details about his role in Tupac's death. This was part of a deal meant to protect him from being charged.
But his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and interviews where he talked about the murder weakened that protection. This allowed prosecutors to use his police interview as proof during his trial.
During the trial, Davis’ lawyers claimed his stories were made up or blown out of proportion to help sell books and gain fame.
Tupac was just 25 years old when he died. He is seen as one of the most influential artists in hip-hop history. He has sold over 75 million records worldwide.
His murder stayed one of the most famous unsolved cases in the U.S. for almost thirty years. This led to many theories about how he died.
Davis’ conviction is the first in this long-running case.
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