On Wednesday, a group of people in Nevada called a jury decided that Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a man connected to the 1996 murder of the famous rapper Tupac Shakur, was guilty of fighting another person in jail. The fight happened on December 23, 2024, and Davis said he was just protecting himself. He’ll find out his punishment on May 27, which could mean 2 to 12 years in jail.
Davis didn’t want to admit he did anything wrong in the jail fight. His lawyer said the other man, Rochlon Hamilton, started it. The trial lasted one day, and they didn’t talk about Tupac’s murder because the jury didn’t know Davis was famous for that case.
Here’s what happened: There’s a video from the jail showing Hamilton waiting by a sink in a shared room. A guard had left him there to wait for a razor to shave. At the same time, Davis was walking through with another guard after meeting his lawyer, Carl Arnold. Arnold said Hamilton hid behind a pole, waiting to jump out and attack Davis when he got close.
The video shows the two men facing each other and then starting to fight. Jail workers said it began when they both said, “What’s up?” In jail, that’s not a friendly hello—it’s like asking for a fight. Patrick Gray, a jail worker who looked into the fight, said it’s a way to start trouble.
The people trying to prove Davis was wrong said he helped start the fight, not just Hamilton. They played phone calls where Davis bragged about it, saying things like, “I get dirty, dude,” and “dog handles his business.” But Davis’s lawyer asked the jail workers if it was okay to leave Hamilton alone in that room, and they said it wasn’t normal.
The lawyers arguing against Davis told the jury not to worry about the jail’s rules but to focus on whether Davis broke the law by fighting. Marc DiGiacomo, one of the lawyers, said letting Davis go free would be like saying fighting in jail is okay. He also said Davis wasn’t defending himself because the video shows him walking toward Hamilton first.
Davis’s lawyer, Arnold, told a different story. He said Hamilton was the one who wanted to fight, and Davis only reacted because he felt scared. Arnold told the jury to watch the video closely and see that Hamilton moved first. He said Davis thought he was in danger when Hamilton came at him saying, “What’s up?”
The other side said both men wanted to fight, but Arnold said there’s no proof of that. Even when they kept fighting on the ground while a guard sprayed them with pepper spray, Arnold said Davis was still protecting himself because he felt threatened.
Both Hamilton and Davis got in trouble for the fight. Hamilton’s trial will happen in late October. They were supposed to be judged together, but a judge named Nadia Krall split them up because Davis is so well-known, and it might not be fair.
The lawyers told the jury they didn’t have to pick who was worse—both men did something wrong. Parker Brooks, another lawyer, said, “You don’t have to choose who’s more guilty. Both are.”
This jail fight trial is just one part of Davis’s story. He’s also waiting for a bigger trial in February 2026 about Tupac Shakur’s murder in 1996. He says he didn’t kill Tupac and that his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, did it. Anderson was in a car with Davis that night but said he didn’t do it. Anderson died in 1998 in a different shooting. People think Tupac’s death was part of a big fight between two music groups, and Davis was on one side.
Even though Davis said he didn’t start the jail fight, the jury decided he was guilty. Now, everyone’s waiting to see what happens next in his bigger case.
