Tupac Shakur trial: US man Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis found guilty of murdering rap icon

A jury has convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur.

The 63-year-old Davis was convicted on Monday of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for three hours after a weeks-long trial in Las Vegas.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors in closing arguments that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight after they beat up Davis’ nephew earlier that night.

Mr Palal acknowledged that Davis’ accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected Davis’ changing motivations and efforts to protect himself.

One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

Davis’ defence lawyer, Michael Sanft, challenged jurors to identify evidence outside Davis’ own statements that placed him in Las Vegas or inside the Cadillac on the night Shakur was shot.

He pointed to the absence of surveillance footage, phone records and other evidence putting Davis there.

“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” Mr Sanft said, pointing toward Davis.

The decades-old case has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and crime experts alike

Davis faced a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur’s killing.

The panel of 16 jurors heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the eyes of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.

Shakur, who was considered one of the most influential rappers of all time, was in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, and stopped at a red light when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him, and shots were fired. He died six days later from his wounds. Knight was also wounded but survived.

Nobody had been charged in the rapper’s death until Davis began making public statements, saying he was in the Cadillac and gave the gun to others in the back seat.