Duane "Keffe D" Davis has been sentenced to at least 40 years in prison for the murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur. In September, the former gang leader was convicted of the drive-by shooting of the hip hop icon, which took place 30 years ago.
Judge delivers sentence
As Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence, she stated: "For three years, I've heard you say some variation of the same thing... 'Yeah, I was involved in this. But I'm different. I've moved on. I got out of Compton. I'm a grandfather now'.
"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 world never forgot about him in his death, and neither did Las Vegas. It took us 30 years. But at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did," reports the Mirror.
Details of the sentence
"On 7 September, 1996, in accordance with the laws of the State of Nevada, you're hereby judged guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon...as to the first-degree murder portion, you are sentenced to 20 years to life. As to the deadly weapon enhancement, you are sentenced to a mandatory consecutive 20 years to life.
"The aggregate sentence is 40 years to life. You have 731 days credit time served toward that sentence."
Prior to the sentence being confirmed, Tupac's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, said: "The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my family."
Appeal and conviction
In September, after appearing straight-faced as the verdict was read out, Davis revealed he planned to appeal. He confirmed this was still the case in court today, Tuesday, October 13.
A jury in Las Vegas took just three hours last month to agree that Davis was guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang in the killing of Tupac. He said after the charge that he intends to appeal.
Davis is the only person ever charged regarding the 1996 fatal shooting of Tupac near the Las Vegas Strip. Prosecutors did not allege that Davis himself fired the shots that killed Tupac. Instead, they accused him of orchestrating the killing.
The jury heard during the trial that Davis said in a police interview back in 2008, that his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson fired the shots that killed the musician. The court heard Davis was in the car with Anderson when the shots that would go on to kill the 25-year-old hip-hop superstar were fired.
At the time of the interview, Anderson had been dead for a decade. According to prosecutors during the trial, Davis was full of "visceral anger" after Tupac and his crew allegedly beat up Baby Lane at the MGM Grand earlier that night.
The incident happened while Tupac was in town for a gig and for a Mike Tyson fight. Hours later, Tupac was fatally shot in the now-infamous drive-by shooting just off the Las Vegas Strip.
