The murder happened 30 years ago.
A Las Vegas court on Tuesday sentenced 63-year-old Duane "Keefe D" Davis to 40 years in prison in connection with the 1996 murder of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. In late August, a jury found him guilty, writes the BBC.
"For three years, I've heard different versions of the same thing from you: 'Yes, I was involved in this. But now I'm a different person. I've left the past behind. I got out of Compton. Now I'm a grandfather'," Judge Carly Kearney stated while delivering the verdict.
"You don't have the right to take a person from their family. You don't have the right to take their life itself, their entire future, and then just walk away as if nothing happened," she said, addressing the accused.
An unknown assailant opened fire from a passing car on September 7, 1996, as Tupac, along with music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, was heading to a club in Las Vegas.
The musician died on September 13 from his injuries. "Suge" survived.
Duane "Keefe D" Davis is the only person to be held accountable for Tupac Shakur's murder. Prosecutors stated that they did not have sufficient grounds to file charges against anyone else.
Three other men, who were allegedly in the car from which the rapper was shot, have already died.
Davis was one of the leaders of the South Side Compton Crips gang, while "Suge" and his music label Death Row Records, with whom Tupac had a contract, were associated with the rival Mob Piru Bloods gang.
In 2019, "Keefe D" published memoirs in which he recounted the rapper's murder. Tupac Shakur had a fight with Davis's nephew, Orlando Anderson, and the South Side Compton Crips member decided not to leave this incident unpunished.
"Keefe D" stated that he was in the car from which the musician was shot and that it was he who handed over the pistol used in the murder.
Davis was arrested in 2023. He tried to distance himself from his memoirs, claiming he published them for money and fame and didn't even know what exactly they said. His defense in court adhered to this version.
"You are reading a book that is fiction, not fact, but the state wants you to believe it is a confession," "Keefe D's" attorney, Michael Sanft, stated.
Despite this, the jury found Davis guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The maximum penalty under this article is life imprisonment without parole.
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