Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, his family finally received a murder conviction.

A Clark County, Nevada, jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder Monday in connection with Shakur’s 1996 killing. The unanimous verdict was reached in less than three hours after a weeks-long trial, marking the first conviction in one of hip-hop’s most infamous murder cases, according to CNN and CBS News.

After the verdict, Shakur’s family expressed emotion as they received a sense of closure regarding his death. His sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried while others held hands and embraced. Davis’ son, Duane Davis Jr., was also in the courtroom and covered his face with one hand.

Davis was accused of orchestrating the shooting

Davis, 63, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, was accused of organizing the shooting in retaliation for an earlier confrontation involving his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Prosecutors did not argue that Davis pulled the trigger. Instead, they described him as the “shot caller” who orchestrated the attack after Shakur and members of his entourage assaulted Anderson inside the MGM Grand earlier that day.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis obtained a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight following the confrontation, per CBS News.

Prosecutors and defense team argue Davis’ words and other evidence

Prosecutors’ case relied heavily on Davis’ own statements about the killing, including accounts he gave to police and details from his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. While Davis’ accounts changed over the years, Palal argued that he consistently placed himself inside the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

“The core facts remain. The material facts remain,” Palal said during closing arguments.

Davis’ defense attorney, Michael Sanft, challenged the lack of physical evidence connecting his client to the shooting. He said no murder weapon was recovered, and there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence tying Davis to the crime, CBS News and CNN reported.

“They have nothing in this case that says that man was here in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996,” Sanft told jurors, per CBS News.

The defense also argued that Davis’ changing accounts showed he was not a reliable witness to his own involvement. Ultimately, jurors sided with prosecutors, making Davis the first and so far only person to be held legally accountable for Shakur’s killing.

How Tupac’s killing became one of hip-hop’s biggest mysteries

Shakur was shot multiple times on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW with Knight in Las Vegas. He died six days later at 25.

The case remained unsolved for decades, fueling conspiracy theories and a steady stream of documentaries, podcasts and other examinations of Shakur’s death.

Davis was arrested in September 2023, but his trial faced multiple delays. In December 2025, Blavity reported that his trial had been postponed to August 2026 after his defense team requested additional time to review new evidence.

The trial ultimately lasted several weeks, with prosecutors and Davis’ defense team presenting their respective cases before the jury reached its verdict.

Davis is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13 and could spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Shakur’s family said the conviction is not the end of his story.

“While this verdict is decades in the making, this is not the end of the story,” the family said in a statement. “Tupac’s legacy and impact on the world lives on and we will continue to do everything we can to keep his spirit alive.”