Michael Sanft, who defended Duane “Keefe D” Davis, was found at his Las Vegas home on Friday. Police have said the death does not appear suspicious, and the coroner has yet to give a cause.
Las Vegas attorney Michael Sanft, who represented Duane “Keefe D” Davis at his trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur, has been found dead at his home aged 55. He was discovered on Friday morning, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A notice of appeal against Davis’s conviction had been filed on 30 October. The Clark County Coroner’s office said a cause and manner of death were pending, while a police spokesperson said the death did not appear suspicious.
What is known about the death
The Review-Journal reported that police did not regard the death as suspicious. Multiple sources told ABC News, as reported by Las Vegas station KTNV, that Mr Sanft’s death may have resulted from a medical episode and that there were no apparent signs of foul play. The sources also said no drugs had been found in his home and that investigators had identified nothing suggesting an overdose. This is a preliminary account, not an official finding.
Homicide detectives are examining the circumstances because of the case’s profile, KTNV’s sources said. They intend to review security-camera footage and carry out toxicology screening. The station noted that their involvement does not mean a homicide occurred.
The Tupac case and the appeal
Davis, 63, was sentenced on 13 October to 40 years to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon over the 1996 killing of Shakur. He is the only person ever charged over the rapper’s death. He was charged after giving interviews and publishing a 2019 memoir describing his role in the shooting.
Mr Sanft took the case pro bono. “I don’t see what I could’ve done differently,” he said previously. According to AP News, the jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning its guilty verdict on 31 August. Mr Sanft told FOX5 Las Vegas on 1 September that he believed jurors had not spent enough time examining the evidence. AP noted that deliberation time alone does not establish a legal ground for overturning a verdict.
Mr Sanft recalled sitting down with Davis after the verdict and said he was “very disappointed in the jury”. He told the Review-Journal that Davis reminded him that this was “phase one”. “Mr. Davis was the one who said, ‘Don’t worry about it, man,’” Mr Sanft recalled. “And I said, ‘I understand, I hate to lose.’”
USA Today reported, citing court records, that the notice of appeal was filed on 30 October, so the first step in challenging the conviction was taken before his death. No replacement appellate lawyer has been publicly named. His death does not automatically overturn the conviction or end the appeal.
The arguments he planned to make
In a September interview with FOX5, Mr Sanft said he intended to challenge the use of Davis’s 2008 and 2009 police interviews, arguing that they should have been excluded because of the circumstances in which Davis gave them. According to AP News, Judge Carli Kierny rejected an earlier attempt to exclude the 2008 interview on 28 July. The defence argued that investigators had promised the interview would remain confidential and would not be used to prosecute Davis, while prosecutors countered that Davis later discussed the killing publicly, including in his memoir.
Mr Sanft also objected to testimony referring to the murder of rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., which he believed unfairly prejudiced jurors. He also criticised the prosecution for not calling Detective Mogg, whom he identified as the investigation’s primary detective. FOX5 described these as defence criticisms and not findings of misconduct.
He told FOX5 he became Davis’s lawyer about four months before the August trial and had to bring together the work of investigators, lawyers and other team members in a short period. According to RTÉ News, the defence’s main strategy was to argue that Davis had exaggerated or invented his involvement and that investigators had no independent physical evidence placing him in the Cadillac used in the shooting. AP reported that the prosecution maintained that Davis’s account was supported by surrounding evidence.
A career in Las Vegas courts
Mr Sanft was lead trial attorney at SOS Injury Lawyers, a Las Vegas firm that also handles personal injury cases. The firm’s biography credits him with more than 150 jury trials, which is the firm’s own account of his experience.
KTNV reported that he represented Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councillor and Pahrump justice of the peace, at her 2024 federal wire-fraud and conspiracy trial. She was convicted of diverting charitable and political funds for personal use, and Mr Sanft withdrew from her case after the verdict. Donald Trump later pardoned her. There is no reported connection between that case and Mr Sanft’s death.
He also represented Sierra Halseth, one of two teenagers accused of killing her father, Daniel Halseth, in Las Vegas in 2021. Ms Halseth and Aaron Guerrero later pleaded guilty and received life sentences with parole eligibility after 22 years, according to KLAS.
Tributes from colleagues
Clark County District Court marshal Michael Sloan told the Review-Journal that Mr Sanft was one of his closest friends and that the two shared an interest in motorcycles and regularly rode together. Fellow attorney Mike Troiano said the death had shocked the local legal community and described Mr Sanft as an exceptionally capable courtroom lawyer who was respected by jurors and colleagues.
Mr Sanft grew up in Tonga before moving to San Diego at 12. He later attended Brigham Young University-Hawaii, where he performed at the Polynesian Cultural Center, before pursuing a legal career, according to KTNV.
