Las Vegas jury reaches guilty verdict in Tupac Shakur murder trial

Jurors found Duane Davis guilty Monday in the 30-year-old murder of Tupac Shakur, making Davis the only person convicted in the hip-hop icon’s death.

Davis, 63, had been charged with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection with a 1996 shooting near the Strip that mortally wounded Shakur and injured Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight, whose head was grazed by a bullet.

The jury delivered its verdict about three hours after attorneys made their final pitch in closing arguments, with prosecutors arguing that Davis’ prior accounts were corroborated and the defense attorney questioning his client’s veracity.

Members of Shakur’s family seated in the courtroom reacted emotionally, with some clutching each other’s hands and at least one crying. Family members also exchanged hugs and handshakes with prosecutors. Prosecutors had sought a gang enhancement to the charge but dismissed it due to logistical issues.

Davis showed little visible reaction but sat at the defense table after the verdict with his hands clasped.

He announced that he wanted his property back and told District Judge Carli Kierny: “I would like to appeal this matter.”

Sentencing has been set for Oct. 13. Davis will be held without bail, said the judge.

Family members of Shakur declined comment or left the courtroom without lingering to speak to reporters, but Pamela Lesane, wife of a cousin of Shakur, said justice prevailed.

“Thank God it’s all over,” she said.

“I’m just happy for Tupac and his family,” said Darryl Harper, a record producer who worked with the rapper.

Attempts to reach jury members were unsuccessful Monday evening.

Prior statements key to case

With physical evidence against Davis scarce, the outcome likely hinged on Davis’ prior statements to law enforcement, to the media and in a memoir he now disputes writing which described his involvement in the slaying, including providing a gun for the shooting.

“Do we honestly think the guy who’s dumb enough to write a book could keep this story straight this many times, this many times over?” asked Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo. “How does he in 2008 tell the most compelling version of events that is corroborated by every single piece of paper or every single other piece of evidence in this case?”

Defense attorney Michael Sanft has argued the opposite.

“There’s not one thing that says that Mr. Davis was in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting of Tupac Shakur,” Sanft told jurors.

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

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.

Prosecutors argued confessions were evidence

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal pointed jurors to instructions on a defendant’s statements, telling them that if they believed Davis, they did not need to corroborate his words against other evidence.

He said Davis changed his accounts over time based on self-interest, but was never unclear about what happened.

“Mr. Davis’ confessions are direct evidence of a crime,” he said.

But he also argued that corroborating evidence existed to establish that Davis was a gang leader, shot-caller and drug dealer. He said an Excalibur receipt for Anderson established that Davis’ crew was in Las Vegas at the time of the killing.

Palal pointed to the trial testimony of James McDonald, a former Mob Piru who objected to some questions, saying they could harm Davis. McDonald also indicated that in gang warfare following the slaying, Davis and Anderson were targets.

The prosecutor said that testimony served as additional corroboration.

He also cited Davis’ statement in a 2008 confidential interview with law enforcement that a Sebring seemingly followed him after the shooting, saying that detail was not publicly known at the time.

“Why would he create the story that makes him legally liable for murder when he could just make himself a witness?” Palal asked.

Defense tried to raise doubt

Sanft encouraged jurors to look for corroboration and directed them to a jury instruction allowing them to disregard a witness’ testimony if they believe a witness has lied.

He said Davis’ statements over time conflicted with each other. He told jurors that despite his client previously saying he recognized Shakur because of screaming fans, witnesses testified no such thing happened.

He asserted that the men alleged to have been in the car from which shots were fired did not die at the hands of Piru Bloods because they weren’t really in the car. And he attacked law enforcement, saying they failed to verify information. He suggested the Sebring detail could have been leaked or discussed on the street.

Sanft also played an interview clip in which Davis asked where a detail came from and an interviewer then reminded him that it was in his memoir, which prosecutors have said he adopted.

“Does that sound like someone who wrote his own book?” he asked.

DiGiacomo said he agreed Davis’ book was mostly “garbage.”

He pointed the jury to additional evidence, including a scrapbook he said Davis kept about Shakur and Christopher Wallace, a rapper known as the Notorious B.I.G. who died in 1997.

“This guy’s scrapbooking his murder for God’s sake,” he said.