A Las Vegas jury has found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty of murder for orchestrating the killing of rap legend Tupac Shakur.
The verdict ends one of the US’s most notorious cold cases, nearly 30 years after the event.
Shakur died on 13 September 1996, six days after being shot in a drive-by shooting. One of four men in a white Cadillac fired 13 shots into the rap legend’s vehicle.
Prosecutors painted the accused, former gang leader Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, as someone seeking revenge and masterminding the drive-by shooting that killed the rapper.
They alleged that although Davis did not fire the gun that killed the California Love singer, he orchestrated the killing in retaliation for the beating of his nephew.
After three hours of deliberation, jurors convicted Davis of facilitating the shooting in Las Vegas that left the rapper and actor dead at the age of 25, Billboard reports.
Shakur’s death came amid the infamous East Coast-West Coast hip-hop feud, and was followed months later by the shooting of rival The Notorious B.I.G. No one had been charged with either killing until now.
Across two weeks of trial, prosecutors called 24 witnesses and played more than eight hours of recordings, mostly of Davis himself discussing his role in the killing. Defence attorney Michael Sanft presented only a brief rebuttal, calling three police investigators to testify about the killing and its aftermath.
Davis could be facing a sentence of life in prison without parole. The judge will hand down his fate at a later date.
