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Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the sole person charged over the 1996 killing of American rap icon Tupac Shakur, has been found guilty of first-degree murder and handed a 40-year prison sentence, with the possibility of remaining behind bars for life.

A court in Las Vegas delivered the sentence on Tuesday, almost three decades after Shakur was shot near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996. The jury returned its verdict on August 31, 2026, following less than three hours of deliberation.

Under the sentence, Davis is required to spend at least 40 years in prison, subject to applicable release rules, and could remain incarcerated for the rest of his life.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Carli Kierny said Davis must be held accountable for ending Shakur’s life and denying his family the opportunity to share a future with the rapper.

“You don’t get to take a man from his family,” the judge said. “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 noted that justice had finally been served after decades of waiting.

“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 was also credited for 731 days he had already spent in custody.

Prosecutors alleged that Davis, a former leader of the Southside Compton Crips gang, arranged the killing as revenge for an earlier confrontation involving Shakur’s entourage and his nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand hotel on the night of the shooting.

Shakur, who was 25 at the time, was travelling with Marion “Suge” Knight when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle. The rapper suffered four gunshot wounds and died six days later, on September 13, 1996.

According to prosecutors, Davis orchestrated the attack but was not the person who fired the fatal shots.

Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, told the court that the loss of her brother had inflicted deep and enduring emotional and psychological trauma on their family.

“The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my entire family, emotionally and mentally,” she said.

She added: “I spent 30 years without my protection.”

The rapper’s stepbrother, Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, also spoke about the devastating impact of his death, noting that Tupac never got the chance to raise children or watch his nieces and nephews grow up.

Investigators developed their case partly from statements Davis made during interviews, documentaries and a memoir published in 2019, in which he discussed events surrounding the killing.

The trial has also drawn renewed attention to the 1997 murder of fellow rap star Biggie Smalls, a case that remains unsolved. Davis had made allegations involving music executive Sean “Diddy” Combs, which Combs denied.

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