Duane "Keffe D" Davis is pushing back hard against his murder conviction, vowing to fight the verdict in court.
In his first interview after a Las Vegas jury found him guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon in the 1996 killing of 2Pac Shakur, Davis spoke to The Hollywood Reporter shortly after the verdict.
"Shit, I ain't worried. I'm getting out on an appeal. We already filed it before the trial even started. They violated my civil rights!" Davis said.
"I'm innocent, man. They got an innocent man sitting in jail. I've got two grandsons that are going to the pros in football,” Davis continued. “They All-Americans—one of them is in high school. He has 25 scholarship offers, and the other one is in college. And when they get their millions, they're coming to get me out of here."
Davis was not accused of pulling the trigger. Clark County prosecutors argued he was a "shotcaller" for the South Side Compton Crips, who organized the attack as retaliation after Shakur allegedly assaulted Davis' nephew at the MGM Grand Hotel following the Mike Tyson bout that night. Under Nevada law, a person who helps another commit murder can be convicted of that murder.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning a unanimous verdict following a nearly two-week trial with 24 prosecution witnesses.
A central piece of prosecution evidence was Davis' 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend, which he now disavows.
"I never wrote that book. The author told me to tell them 10 stories about what happened in your life and get them some pictures. I never read that book or went over that book or nothing. They didn't even spell my name right on the cover," he said, adding his only motivation was: "I was just trying to make my family some money."
Davis also alleged bias during the trial, claiming Shakur's family was repeatedly brought into a back room near where the jury was located.
"I didn't like the way the prosecutors kept bringing them in the back room where the jury was. That felt biased to me," he said. He explained his decision not to testify by saying his lawyer advised it "would mess up my chances of appeal."
Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny ordered Davis held until a sentencing date of Oct. 13. He faces a life sentence.
