Duane Davis sentenced to 40 years in killing of Tupac Shakur

Noble Brigham, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 13, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LAS VEGAS — The man who organized and set in motion the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur learned his fate Tuesday, 30 years after the deadly shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

Duane Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the 1996 murder of Shakur.

Shakur was shot Sept. 7, 1996, at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, near the Strip. He died Sept. 13 at University Medical Center.

It wasn’t until 2023 that police arrested Davis, now 63, outside his house in Henderson. At the time, he described the killing to police as “the biggest case in Las Vegas history.”

The trial attracted a swarm of international media who covered it breathlessly and exhaustively, although there were few revelations.

Physical evidence was scarce and much of the case consisted of Davis’ already publicized words in statements to the media and law enforcement about his involvement in the killing, including an admission in a memoir he has since disputed writing that he supplied the gun.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft questioned his client’s credibility, but jurors found Davis guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon after only about three hours of deliberations.

Authorities alleged Davis was the “shot-caller” who conceived the plan to exact revenge on Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight in retaliation for an attack by Shakur and his entourage against Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night at the MGM Grand.

Prosecutors said Knight was grazed in the head in the shooting. Knight was driving the BMW in which Shakur was a passenger at the time of the shooting.

According to prosecutors, the Bloods-associated Mob Piru gang had ties to Death Row Records, and the South Side Crips — of which prosecutors say Davis was a leader — were associated with Bad Boy Records, a label owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“Duane Davis did not pull the trigger, but what he did do is plan the retaliation for the beating of his nephew,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors.

___