Keefe D Gets 40 Years to Life as Tupac’s Family Recalls Devastating Loss

Duane “Keefe D” Davis has vowed to appeal after he was sentenced to 40 years to life in a Nevada prison for orchestrating the killing of rap legend Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, was convicted in August of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He learned his fate on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Las Vegas after the court heard heartbreaking victim impact statements from Shakur’s sister and brother.

Family Statements
The late rapper’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, said he helped raise her. She talked about the trauma she endured while coming to terms with his violent death.

“We lost something. Our whole generation lost something huge,” she said in the hearing streamed live by the Associated Press.

Sekyiwa revealed she considered taking her own life after the killing.

“I just wanted to be with my brother. I want to go. I want to go with you. I want to go. Why can’t I go? And that walked me into all of my suicide attempts. I’m grateful that I’ve made it out,” she shared.

She said Shakur gave back to the community and was paying to support “17 different families” before his life was taken in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip.

“This man’s life mattered,” Sekyiwa said about her brother. She urged the judge to give Davis the maximum sentence.

“I do believe that when you take a life like that, you deserve every minute, every minute of the maximum amount of punishment. Time to sit down and contemplate what you’ve done to this world, not just to me,” she told the court.

Tupac’s brother, Maurice Shakur, also made an emotional statement.

“The impact from my brother’s murder has been devastating, heartbreaking and sad for me, my family, and a nation of Pac fans,” he said. “Pac didn’t get a chance to have any kids. Pac didn’t see his nieces and nephews grow up, and Pac didn’t have a trial, all Pac got was a death sentence.”

Prosecutor Slams Keefe D
Before the family members spoke, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo slammed Davis, saying he is a five-time convicted felon and should be locked away for good.

“In my mind he deserves the maximum possible sentence,” DiGiacomo said.

After hearing from everyone, Judge Carli Kierny criticized Davis.

“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 it. Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur,” the judge said. “Took us 30 years, but at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did on September 7, 1996.”

History of the Case
Before learning his fate, Davis argued with the judge about the time he’s already spent behind bars since his arrest on Sept. 29, 2023.

“I’m gonna appeal this case, for sure,” he told the judge.

Decades earlier, Tupac was shot multiple times while riding in a BMW with rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. A Cadillac pulled up beside them, and opened fire.

In a 2021 interview with the “Art of Dialogue” YouTube channel, Keefe D laughed about the killing and said he spotted Tupac as the rapper leaned out of a window while waving to fans.

“He was acting like he was in a parade or something, stupid a–,” he said.

Shakur died six days after being shot at the age of 25. Knight was wounded in the attack.

Davis is a former South Side Compton Crips gang leader. Everyone involved was in Vegas for a professional boxing match.

Prosecutors said the shooting was in retaliation for an earlier altercation inside the MGM Grand hotel, when Shakur and his entourage physically assaulted Orlando Anderson, who was Keefe D’s nephew.

Investigators said Davis was the mastermind behind Shakur’s murder, arguing that he obtained the weapon and passed it to someone in the Cadillac before the fatal shooting took place. He is the only survivor who was in the Cadillac and the only person ever charged in connection with the killing.

Over the years, Davis admitted in podcast interviews, docuseries, and in his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend that he was in the Cadillac at the time of the shooting. But he insisted someone else fired the fatal shots and pleaded not guilty after his arrest.