Michael Sanft is dead. The Las Vegas defense attorney who stood at Duane "Keefe D" Davis's side through the Tupac Shakur murder trial was found dead at his home in Las Vegas on Friday. He was 55.
The Clark County Coroner's Office confirmed his death to USA TODAY. His cause of death is pending, and no further details have been released. According to local reporting citing a police spokesperson, the death did not appear suspicious. FOX5 and 8 News Now reported the death first.
THE CASE THAT TOOK THIRTY YEARS
Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996. The case went unsolved for close to thirty years, and Davis, 63, is the only person ever charged in it. In late August, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon for facilitating the shooting. In October, he was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
“Thirty years after Tupac's murder, the case finally got its verdict. Now it has lost the lawyer carrying its appeal.”
Moe Train
Sanft carried that defense. He took the case pro bono and stood as Davis's lawyer through the trial of the most famous cold case in music. Away from the cameras, he was the lead trial attorney at SOS Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas, a courtroom lawyer credited with more than 150 cases tried to a jury verdict.
After the sentencing, Sanft told FOX5 he had no regrets about the fight: "We had the best team possible in this case. I don't see what I could've done differently." He said Davis was the one steadying him after the verdict, reminding him: this is phase one.
THE APPEAL HE LEAVES BEHIND
Phase two started a week ago. Court records show Sanft filed a notice of appeal on October 30. As of Friday, no replacement counsel has been named to take it over.
Thirty years after Tupac's murder, the case finally got its verdict this summer. Now the appeal Sanft filed sits waiting for a new lawyer, and the man who carried it is gone at 55.
Source: USA TODAY
