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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‘ sentencing 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.
“The loss of Tupac for a long time crippled my entire family emotionally, mentally,” Sekyiwa said. “I’ve been hospitalized multiple times for depression, suicidal ideation, and trauma.”
“I miss my brother. 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. Miss his recipe for chicken. Miss his laugh,” she added.
She said Tupac served as a masculine figure for the family that she misses and regrets that the rest of the family doesn’t have him anymore.
Her brother, Maurice, spoke in much shorter but decisive terms.
“The impact from my brother’s murder has been devastating, heartbreaking, and sad for me, my family, and a nation of Tupac fans and loved ones,” he said.
“Pac didn’t get us a chance to have any kids. Pac didn’t see his nieces and nephews grow up,” he added, before declaring he hopes Davis receives the max prison sentence possible.
Kierny then handed a heavy sentence, an aggregated 40 years to life, to Davis for murder and a deadly-weapon enhancement.
She suggested that Davis didn’t get to just walk away to tell his story and have a family after he contributed to Tupac’s murder. He would face consequences.
“I’m here to tell you that’s not how it works, okay?” she said. “You don’t get to take a man from his family, you don’t get to take his very life, his whole future from him, and just walk away from him.”
“Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur.”
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.
