Former gang leader found guilty of murdering Tupac Shakur

A jury has found a former gang leader guilty of murder after a trial heard he was the mastermind behind the drive-by killing of legendary hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was charged in Nevada's Clark County with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon. He had pleaded not guilty.

A 12-person jury unanimously found Davis guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, which carries a potential sentence of life in prison without parole, after nearly three hours of deliberation.

Davis told the judge he "plans to appeal this matter". Several people in the gallery wiped away tears and hugged a prosecutor as the court adjourned.

Representatives of the Clark County District Attorney's Office and Davis's lawyer did not immediately respond to Reuters's requests for comment.

Davis was accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur, 25, who was one of rap's most commercially successful and influential artists, in retaliation for the beating of Davis's nephew.

Shakur was stopped at a red light in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled up beside him and shots were fired.

He died six days later from his wounds.

Police had said they long suspected Davis but did not have enough evidence to charge him until he went public with his story in media appearances and a memoir. Those, along with tapes of his secret meetings with investigators, made up the bulk of the prosecution's case.

Davis's lawyer said his client's words were mere bravado and could not be corroborated by other evidence.

The trial in Las Vegas began on August 17. Prosecutors played hours of recorded conversations in which Davis said he was enraged after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis's nephew at a Las Vegas casino on September 7, 1996.

Davis and three other men, including his nephew, went looking for Shakur and record label executive Marion "Suge" Knight in a white Cadillac on the night of the beating, he said.

Davis said he passed a gun to the back seat, and when they found Knight and Shakur's car, one of the two men in the back opened fire.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal acknowledged Davis's accounts of the killing evolved over the years but argued those differences reflected Davis's changing motivations and efforts to protect himself.

One critical detail, he said, remained consistent: Davis repeatedly placed himself inside a white Cadillac from which the shots were fired.

Prosecutors have not named the shooter, and the three other men who were in the car have since died. Under Nevada law, Davis can be charged with murder even though he did not pull the trigger.

The panel of 16 jurors, four of whom were alternates, heard testimony from 24 prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses over nine days.

The prosecution said on Monday evening that the state would dismiss the gang enhancement part of the charge due to witness logistics.

The trial brought to a head a decades-old case that for years has drawn the attention of hip-hop fans and true crime experts alike.

For years, nobody had been charged in the rapper's death until Davis began making public statements.

Mr Palal told jurors that if they believed Davis's statements, they did not have to be independently corroborated with additional evidence.

Still, he pointed to the rivalry between the South Side Compton Crips and Mob Piru, the fight with Davis's nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, and testimony that members of Shakur's circle identified Anderson and Davis as suspects the night of the shooting.

Davis was a leader of the Southside Compton Crips, while Mob Piru was associated with Shakur and his record label, Death Row Records.

Shakur's killing in 1996 became a seminal moment in rap history and heightened hip-hop culture's violent image during "gangsta" rap's heyday, an era defined by feuding between East and West Coast artists.