2Pac’s family members had an emotional reaction in court when Duane “Keffe D” Davis was handed a guilty verdict on Monday (August 31).
According to CNN’s Zoe Sottile, the late rapper’s family members, including his sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, were present in the courtroom.
Sottile reported that there were “no audible reactions” when Davis’ guilty verdict was announced but that Sekyiwa “appeared to cry quietly.”
A Las Vegas jury found Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the fatal 1996 drive-by shooting. He now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
2Pac was struck several times during the September 7, 1996 shooting while riding inside of a vehicle driven by Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight. Days later, he succumbed to his injuries and died at age 25.
In 2023, authorities arrested Davis, alleging that he organized the violent attack as an act of revenge.
Prosecution evidence indicated that Shakur had assaulted Davis' nephew, Orlando Anderson, just two hours prior to the shooting.
Davis had previously acknowledged involvement during a 2009 law enforcement proffer agreement, media interviews (such as with VladTV), and in his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.
However, Davis' legal counsel argued that those previous admissions were intended strictly for "entertainment purposes" rather than factual statements.
“Because of the history of America and our family’s history here, we have no expectations or low expectations of the criminal system ever,” Sekyiwa said in an interview with Law & Crime Network earlier this month, per Billboard. “We’ve never had any expectations of the criminal system to hunt someone down for my brother’s murder.”
She added, “Young Black boys, and their lives and deaths tend to be swept under the rug in America often. We didn’t have high expectations in the beginning.”
