Former gang leader sentenced to minimum 40 years for Tupac killing
Duane Davis, the former Los Angeles gang leader who boasted in books and interviews of his involvement in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, only to deny it when he came to trial, was sentenced to a minimum 40 years in prison on Tuesday. FRANCE 24's Wassim Cornet reports from Los Angeles.
Former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to at least 40 years in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. A jury previously found the 63-year-old guilty in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon regarding the drive-by shooting that occurred in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. Davis has indicated he will appeal the verdict.
Prosecutors argued that while Davis did not fire the gun himself, he acted as the ringleader of the group that committed the murder. According to Punch, prosecutors claimed Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, supplied the firearm used in the shooting and that his nephew, Orlando Anderson, opened the fire. Anderson died in an unrelated shooting in 1998.
France 24 reported that Davis had boasted of his involvement in the killing in interviews and books, though he denied the allegations when he came to trial. Adom Online noted that prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo described Davis as having spent years "publicly grandstanding" regarding his role. During the sentencing, Tupac Shakur's siblings, Sekyiwa and Maurice Shakur, addressed the court to ask for a long sentence.
Brief written by urgent.news from France 24, Channel News Asia, Punch Nigeria, Adom Online, Punch — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
