Duane 'Keffe D' Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life for the murder of rap icon Tupac Shakur. The former gang leader was found guilty in September of the drive-by shooting of the hip hop icon 30 years ago.
Appeal plans confirmed
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 on Tuesday, October 13.
Prior to the sentence being confirmed, Shakur's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, said: "The loss of Tupac, for a long time, crippled my family."
Guilty verdict details
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 Shakur. He said after the charge that he intends to appeal.
Davis is the only person ever charged regarding the 1996 fatal shooting of Shakur near the Las Vegas Strip. Prosecutors did not allege that Davis himself fired the shots that killed Shakur. Instead, they accused him of orchestrating the killing.
Trial evidence
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 Shakur 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.
