The mastermind behind the killing of famed rapper Tupac Shakur has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison after his first-degree murder conviction in August.
Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis‘ conviction on Tuesday came decades after Shakur’s September 1996 murder in Las Vegas.
Shakur’s family was present in court as the prosecution gave their sentencing arguments.
The prosecution against the alleged mastermind asked for the max prison sentence.
“He’s the only one who’s trying to profit off a killing that he committed, and for that he doesn’t deserve the minimum sentence,” prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told the court. “He deserves the maximum possible sentence because he’s earned it through his actions, his behavior, and who he is as he stands here today.”
Davis attorney, Michael Sanft, asked that he be sentenced to 40 years in prison but noted that they will be appealing his conviction.
Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa, and brother, Maurice, gave statements before Judge Carli Kierny laid down the sentence.
Davis was charged for masterminding Shakur’s murder after he owned up to it while trying to dodge potential charges in 2008, and later detailed the entire plot in a 2019 memoir that ended up leading to his 2023 arrest.
Davis’ defense, however, argued those admissions were pure falsehoods — with attorney Sanft characterizing the memoir as historical fiction, comparing it to the movie “Titanic.”
“Has anybody seen the documentary called ‘Titanic,’ with Jack and Rose?” Sanft jibbed during closing statements.
But prosecutors argued Davis’ own statements were icing on the cake — saying the case was “drenched with circumstantial evidence” placing him in the middle of the crime.
His nephew had been beaten up by Shakur — said to be affiliated with a rival Bloods gang — just hours before the killing, which prosecutors argued necessitated a violent response by unspoken gangland rules.
Davis had a role as a former high-ranking “shot caller” in a Los Angeles chapter of the Crips gang.
“That was the nature of the gang life in the 1990s in Compton – you had no choice, you could not go back to Compton after being beaten publicly,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said during his closing arguments.
That response was organized by an enraged Davis, who Palal said “got a gun and went hunting for Tupac Shakur.”
A gunman, not said to be Davis, then shot Shakur dead with a hail of bullets. He died days later at 25.
The jury ultimately found Davis guilty of murder in the killing of the rap superstar.
He’s the first person to face justice for Shakur’s murder.
