First Thing: Duane Keith Davis found guilty of 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur

Jury took about three hours to reach verdict in case that relied heavily on confessions from the defendant.

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A Las Vegas jury has found the former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur , bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the rapper was gunned down.

The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself.

The 63-year-old, who was accused of instigating the deadly shooting but not pulling the trigger himself, had spent years telling investigators and interviewers alike of his direct involvement before he was arrested in 2023.

Who was Tupac Shakur? Shakur was born in 1971 in East Harlem, New York, and rose to fame in the early 90s with lyrics that doubled as a sharp commentary on social injustice, including systemic racism and police brutality.

He was 25 when he died and is regarded among the greatest rappers to ever live, and continues to be celebrated around the world years after his life was cut short.

How have his family reacted to the trial? “We’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly,” Zayd Akinyela, Shakur’s cousin, told reporters outside the courtroom when the trial was under way.

“A lot of people don’t get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one and how it happened.” Why have authorities been so heavily criticised over the case? Las Vegas police faced criticism that they had bungled the investigation and failed to pursue crucial leads, including from a member of Shakur’s entourage who claimed he could identify the shooters.

That witness died weeks later in a separate shooting.

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