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Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the man indicted in 2023 in connection with the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Oct. 13, according to CNN. Las Vegas Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence, bringing a major development in the decades-long case surrounding the death of the legendary hip-hop artist. Before the sentencing, Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, delivered an emotional statement in court, reflecting on her brother’s larger-than-life personality, his ambitions and the lasting impact of his life and legacy.

“He was cocky. He did have a big head. He did think he was Black Jesus,” she said with conviction. “Everything that has happened actually, the way that we know Tupac today, was exactly his plan. He wanted to have a bobble head. He wanted to be known in Africa…This was his plan, and he would have done such good work with that platform,” Sekyiwa Shakur continued, before tearing up. 

“I miss my brother. I do. I do. I do. I miss his skin. I miss his scars on his head. He had a strawberry on his chest. I miss the way he ate. I miss his recipe of barbecue chicken. I miss his laugh. He laughed so sloppy. He would slobber when he laughed. He laughed so full and so big. We lost something. Our whole generation lost something huge. September 13, 1996.”

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Davis, 63, a former leader of the Southside Compton Crips gang, received a lengthy sentence for his role in the plot to kill Shakur. The sentencing followed his conviction for first-degree murder on Aug. 31, 2026, in connection with the rapper’s fatal shooting near the Las Vegas Strip in 1996. Davis remains the only person to have been charged in Shakur’s death. The rapper was just 25 years old and at the height of his career when he was killed.

“You don’t get to take a man from his family,” Judge Carli Kierny said before delivering the sentence to Davis, CNN noted. “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.”

Kierny also addressed the decades that had passed since the killing, explaining that the case had not been forgotten by the city or the public.

“The world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas. Took us 30 years, but at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did on September 7, 1996,” she said.

Davis will receive credit for 731 days already served toward his sentence. Read more about the case and Duane Davis’ sentencing after the flip.

Source: Bob Berg / Getty

Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996. Earlier that evening, he had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand alongside Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight and others.

Following the fight, Shakur and members of his entourage became involved in a physical altercation with Orlando Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Later that night, Shakur and Knight were traveling in a black BMW when another vehicle pulled up alongside them and opened fire. Shakur sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died six days later, on Sept. 13, 1996. Knight was also wounded in the shooting but survived.

Prosecutors argued that gang rivalries may have played a role in the killing. Shakur was affiliated with the Mob Piru gang, which had ties to the Bloods, longtime rivals of the Crips. According to CNN, the case brought renewed attention to the longstanding tensions between the Los Angeles-based street gangs and how those rivalries may have contributed to the circumstances surrounding the rapper’s death.

Source: Pool / Getty

Prosecutors maintained that Davis helped plan and coordinate the attack. A significant part of the prosecution’s case centered on Davis’ 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. In the book, Davis described traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for the Tyson fight and recounted events surrounding Shakur’s shooting. He portrayed himself as the “the only living” eyewitness to the rapper’s murder and suggested he knew the “much larger story” behind the killing.

According to his account in the memoir, Davis was sitting in the front passenger seat of the vehicle when someone in the back grabbed a black .40-caliber Glock that Davis had previously placed inside the car. The person then allegedly fired at the BMW carrying Shakur and Knight.

“One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back,” Davis wrote.

Davis identified Anderson, who was known as “Baby Lane,” and their associate Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, also known as “Freaky,” as passengers in the backseat when the shooting occurred. However, his account did not establish who actually fired the shots. Both Anderson and Smith are now deceased.

During an appearance on BET’s Death Row Chronicles, Davis was asked directly about the identity of the shooter.

“Going to keep it for the code of the streets,” he said. “It just came from the backseat, bro.”

Despite the account presented in his memoir, Davis later offered a different version of events. In an interview with Las Vegas television station 8 News Now published July 31, he denied being present when Shakur was killed, saying he “wasn’t even in Nevada” that night.

Davis also claimed that his motivation for participating in the book was financial, saying he “was just after the money.”

“I didn’t write that book,” he said.

Shakur’s death remained one of hip-hop’s most controversial and unsolved murder cases for nearly three decades. With Duane Davis’ sentencing now complete, the case has reached a significant milestone and hopefully offers his family some closure after years of struggling to find out what happened.

Sekyiwa Shakur described her brother as her rock and shining star. She say’s his death “crippled” the family for years.

“My brother was born an icon. He was born a legend,” she added. “The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my entire family, emotionally and mentally. Both of my children were raised in my grief.”

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