Duane Davis found guilty in murder of Tupac Shakur | Hanomansing Tonight

Steve Futterman, who's been covering this trial for us, joins me now. We know that the verdict from the jury is guilty of first-degree murder. And this is, as you pointed out when we last spoke, last hour, Steve, very close to the 30th anniversary of the murder of Tupac Shakur, a rapper. And the death has made him perhaps even more famous in death than he was when he was alive. This is a case, a mystery that has been going on for decades now. Talk to me a little bit. We were just discussing how long this jury had actually been deliberating, just a matter of hours. Yes? Yeah, we're trying to get the exact time, Sarah, but we think between two and three hours. Obviously, there wasn't, you know, you don't really change one vote even in a couple of hours. Normally, the jury comes in. They talk things over. If they disagree, they just go around the table normally and give opinions. Sounds to me like this may have been a situation where they all agreed right off the bat, we'll be able to talk to the jurors probably in the next couple of hours. But a unanimous verdict, all 12 had to agree. And obviously, this was a case that there was a lot of evidence against Wayne Davis. Now, the defense team tried to suggest his comments in the book, in the memoir, in the police interviews where he more or less acknowledged involvement in the killing, these were embellishments. But he said them over and over and over again. When the closing argument ended for the prosecution today, the prosecutor said, after 18 years of him saying this over and over and over, believe him. He said he did it. Believe him. And that's obviously what the jury has done here. Now, when the announcement was made, didn't see any real reaction from Dwayne Davis. Obviously, he knew the possibilities. But now we'll wait to see what the sentencing is. Almost certainly, it's going to be life in prison. We don't have a sentencing date yet, but he will be remanded. He will remain in custody. He's not been out of jail for a long time now. And this ends this nearly 30 year mystery. Who killed Tupac Shakur? Well, the jury at least has said it was Dwayne Davis at least orchestrating the killing. Yeah. And, you know, I think this is what's interesting to me, Steve, is that listening to his defense last hour, that clip that you played, essentially the defense was he's a liar. Don't believe what he's saying, despite the fact he said it so many times in a publication that he was doing that to sell books. Don't believe my client, I think, was essentially that argument. But in fact, you know, the jury has believed. So I mean, and one thing also, Sarah, that was interesting, I mean, I listened to these interviews. It wasn't coercive. They weren't trying. He was very relaxed, very calm, very matter of fact, when he would talk about what took place. It wasn't a situation where he seemed nervous. He was. It seemed if you want to believe him, it seemed believable that what he was saying was true. That's what the prosecution asked the jury to conclude and that it seems is what the jury did conclude. Well, again, we're going to hear from the jurors probably in the next couple of hours. We'll hear from both sides of the defense and the prosecution. It was a very tough situation for the defense. I think the defense's best hope realistically was one juror who just didn't believe there was enough evidence, not enough proof beyond a reasonable doubt might hold up the jury. You might get a hung jury. But again, this was overwhelming evidence. However, you never know till the verdict comes in. Steve, let me just finally ask you, you know, Tupac Shakur was he became, I would suggest, even more famous, if that's possible, then in his death than when he was alive. And his fans, those who loved him as a performer and those who were close to him, very outspoken over the last three decades about finding justice in this and solving, as we've described it, sort of the mystery around his death. What has the atmosphere at this trial been in terms of those fans and supporters? And what do you imagine it might be now that we have this very quick verdict? Right. Well, I mean, I think most of the Tupac Shakur's fans felt that this was going to be justice here. And I even spoke to one of his close relatives, an uncle of his, who just before the trial began said he believed that this was the truth, that Dwayne Davis did do this. This is a man who has been in prison himself for a while. And he said he understood why Dwayne Davis was saying it was a crippling exaggeration, embellishment. He said, if I was in the situation, I'd be saying the same thing. But the Tupac Shakur family really believed it was Dwayne Davis. And I'll take you back. Listen, for many years, law enforcement has believed it was Dwayne Davis. It wasn't until he wrote the memoir, did these interviews, that suddenly Vegas Police said, gee, we might have a case again. It was pretty much a cold case. They just didn't have enough evidence linking him. And who ends up linking Dwayne Davis to the murder and eventually this conviction? Dwayne Davis himself. Three decades into a longstanding mystery. And now an answer to that after mere hours of deliberation. Steve Futterman in Las Vegas. Thank you. Thanks, Sarah.