LAWYERS FOR A former gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of American rapper Tupac Shakur have said their client is facing danger and should be released from prison to house arrest ahead of his trial in June.
Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis was charged in September 2023 over the killing of Tupac Shakur, and is one of the last living witnesses to the fatal drive-by shooting in 1996.
Ahead of a bail hearing today, court-appointed lawyers for Davis accused the prosecution of misinterpreting a prison telephone recording and a list of names provided to his family members. They also accused prosecutors of misreporting to the judge that Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
The former gang leader “never threatened anyone during the phone calls”, deputy special public defenders Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano said in a court filing, adding:
Furthermore, [prosecutors’] interpretation of the use of ‘green light’ is flat-out wrong.
The ‘green light’ reference is from a recording of an October prison call that prosecutors provided last month to Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny.
The prosecution filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed, but the prosecutors added: “In [Davis’s] world, a ‘green light’ is an authorisation to kill.”
Davis’s lawyers wrote: “Duane’s son was saying he heard there was a green light on Duane’s family. Duane obviously did not know what his son was talking about.
“If Duane is so dangerous, and the evidence so overwhelming, why did [police and prosecutors] wait 15 years to arrest Duane for the murder of Tupac Shakur?”
Prosecutors point to Davis’s police interviews, as well as a 2019 autobiography and his comments in the media — which they say provide strong evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis’s lawyers argue that his descriptions of the hip-hop star’s killing were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money”.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and has remained jailed without bail at Clark County Detention Centre in Las Vegas. Davis’s lawyers have argued their 60-year-old client is in poor health currently in remission from cancer, and will not flee to avoid trial. They are asking for bail set at not more than $100,000 (almost €91,500).
Davis maintains he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by an FBI and Los Angeles police taskforce investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace – known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls – six months later in Los Angeles.
Tupac Shakur was nominated six times for a Grammy Award before his death and is largely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. The hip-hop legend was 25 years old when he died.
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