• Duane "Keffe D" Davis found guilty of orchestrating Tupac Shakur's murder.
• The jury reached the verdict in less than three hours after deliberation.
• Davis faces life in prison for the charge of murder with a deadly weapon.
• The case was revived due to Davis's public admissions in media and a memoir.
• Shakur's death in 1996 symbolized the violent culture in 1990s rap music.

A Las Vegas jury has convicted Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, of murder in the high-profile case involving the killing of legendary hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur, marking the conclusion to a decades-long cold case. The jury deliberated for under three hours before reaching their verdict, which carries a potential life sentence for Davis, who pleaded not guilty, according to Reuters, South China Morning Post, and Los Angeles Times.

Prosecutors claimed that Davis orchestrated the shooting in retaliation for the beating of his nephew by members of Shakur’s entourage. They argued that the evidence presented, including recordings and Davis’s own admissions, confirmed his role in the crime. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal pointed out that Davis had admitted to involvement in multiple interviews, stating, “Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand,” according to CBS News, Reuters, and South China Morning Post.

The prosecution’s case was bolstered by hours of recorded conversations in which Davis allegedly detailed his thoughts and actions leading to the murder. Defense attorney Michael Sanft countered that there was no tangible evidence linking Davis to the crime scene, claiming, “They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” as reported by Los Angeles Times, CBS News, and Reuters.

Davis was the only individual charged in the case, with prosecutors arguing that the overall evidence—plenty of circumstantial yet compelling—implicates him in the operation of the drive-by shooting. Shakur's killing in 1996 became a defining moment in rap history and highlighted the tumultuous gang culture of the era, according to Reuters and South China Morning Post.