2Pac's murder: Duane 'Keffe D' Davis sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison

After decades of theories and waiting, the case appears to be coming to a close. Following a trial lasting about two months, Duane Davis was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison for the murder of Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2Pac.

Tupac Shakur was murdered in 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The artist was shot after attending a boxing match featuring Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand hotel.

On Tuesday, the court announced its verdict on Davis, nicknamed Keffe D, who was the sole suspect in committing or orchestrating the crime.

"You cannot take a man away from his family. You cannot take his life, his entire future, and simply walk away. Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur," said Judge Carli Kierny, who presided over the case.

The murder of 2Pac

To trace the origins of the case, we must go back to September 7, 1996. After attending a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the rapper and a friend of his, the founder of Death Row Records, Marion Suge Knight, were involved in a serious altercation with Orlando Baby Lane Anderson, Davis's nephew.

According to the prosecution, Anderson told his uncle about the brawl he'd had with Shakur and Knight. Hours later, Davis got into a white Cadillac parked next to a black BMW in which the rapper was sitting; the rapper had planned to go to a club. From the rear window of the Cadillac, the shooter began firing, striking 2Pac.

The artist was shot four times: twice in the chest, once in one of his arms, and once in one of his thighs. In addition, shrapnel left him with head wounds. Knight, who was some distance from the scene of the shooting, witnessed the incident. As they were heading to a hospital, they were stopped by a police patrol. The officers, seeing the rapper's condition, alerted emergency services, and he was transported to a nearby hospital.

Shakur survived for six days. On September 13, after undergoing intensive care and surgeries, the rapper died as a result of respiratory failure that led to cardiac arrest. He was 25 years old.

The case was closed

Investigators were unable to identify the perpetrator of 2Pac's murder and closed the case, leaving it unsolved. However, there was a complete turnaround when Davis, through several interviews and in his autobiography, admitted that he was in the vehicle from which the rapper was shot.

As a result of these statements, the case was reopened, and Davis became the sole defendant. Both he and his defense team have always maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty on multiple occasions.