A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur. The verdict brings the case to a close almost 30 years after the rapper was shot.
Shakur, who was 25 when he died, was shot four times in a car near the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996. The trial offered some resolution for family members and fans who have mourned the rapper and questioned the long delay in the case.
Prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal presented 25 witnesses during the weeks-long trial. The prosecution's case largely hinged on details from Davis's 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, and eight hours of recorded statements where Davis discussed the events of 7 September 1996. Davis, 63, was accused of instigating the shooting, though not pulling the trigger himself, after Shakur's entourage reportedly beat his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson.
Davis's attorney, Michael Sanft, argued that the stories and statements were exaggerated claims made to benefit from public interest. Clark county district attorney Marc DiGiacomo stated during the trial that Davis likely would not have been prosecuted had he not written the book.