Las Vegas judge Carli Kierny handed Duane Davis a 40‑year minimum sentence for ordering the 1996 shooting that killed 25‑year‑old rapper Tupac Shakur.
Davis, once a top member of the South Side Compton Crips, had long boasted in memoirs and interviews that he orchestrated the hit after a casino brawl on September 7, 1996.
At a red light, a white Cadillac pulled up beside the BMW that carried Shakur; a gunman in the passenger seat fired a single shot that killed the artist six days later.
Judge Kierny reminded the court that taking a man's life, especially someone as iconic as Shakur, has lasting repercussions. 'You don't get to walk away from that,' she said.
Davis will now be transferred to Nevada State Prison. For a 13‑year‑old fan in Sacramento, the verdict offers a bittersweet sense of justice, saying the sentence 'lets him finally breathe.'