Three decades after rap star Tupac Shakur was killed, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader convicted in connection with his murder, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Judge Carli Kierny delivered the judgement on Tuesday, condemning the murder of the iconic rapper.

“You don’t get to take a man from his family,” Judge Kierny said. “You don’t get to take his very life, his whole future from him, and just walk away from it. Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur.”

The judge added, “The world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas. Took us 30 years, but at this time, you are going to face justice for what you did on September 7, 1996.”

A jury in Clark County, Nevada, on August 31, found Keffe D guilty of one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon after about three hours of deliberation in a trial that ran for 11 days.

During the trial, the prosecutor, Binu Palal, accused Keffe D of ordering the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur, hours after members of the rapper’s team beat his nephew at a Las Vegas casino.

“Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand. So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together and went hunting for Mr Shakur,” Mr Palal said as he played clips from Keffe D’s alleged confessions to close his argument.

However, Michael Sanft, Keffe D’s defence attorney, dismissed the confessions as lies crafted to promote his client’s book.

“You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact,” Mr Sanft said. “But the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting.”

Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas while he visited the city to see a Mike Tyson boxing bout.

Rated one of the all-time best rappers, Shakur’s killing remains one of the unresolved murders in America’s music industry. 

In his lifetime, Shakur released hit songs including “All Eyez on Me,” “Hit ’Em Up,” “Changes,” “Dear Mama,” “California Love,” and others.