- Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing Tupac Shakur in 1996, is requesting house arrest ahead of his June trial.
- Davis, 60, made the request citing health concerns and stating that he does not pose a danger to the community or a flight risk.
- Prosecutors argue there could be potential harm to witnesses based on jailhouse recordings and a list provided to Davis’ family.
A former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas plans to ask a judge Tuesday to release him under house arrest ahead of a trial in June.
Court-appointed attorneys for Duane “Keffe D” Davis say their 60-year-old client is in poor health, poses no danger to the community and will not flee to avoid trial. They want the judge to set his bail at no more than $100,000.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and has remained jailed without bail since his Sept. 29 arrest outside his home in suburban Henderson, where Las Vegas police had served a search warrant in mid-July. He is the only person charged with a crime in the shooting that also injured rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.
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Prosecutors allege in a court filing filed last week that jailhouse phone records and a list of names provided to Davis’ relatives show there are witnesses at risk of harm if Davis were released.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, left, is seen with Special Deputy Public Defenders Robert Arroyo, right, and Charles Cano during his arraignment at the Regional Justice Center, Nov. 2, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis is seeking house arrest before trial in June. (Ethan Miller/Pool Photo via AP, file)
They also drew attention to Davis’s own words from 2008 (in police interviews, in his tell-all 2019 memoir, and in the media), which provide compelling evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 drive-by shooting.
Knight, now 58, is serving a 28-year sentence in a California prison for an unrelated shooting that killed a Compton businessman in 2015.
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Meanwhile, Davis is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees’ phone calls are routinely recorded. If he is convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in a Nevada state prison.
In a recording of an October call, prosecutors say Davis’ son said the defendant gave the “green light” authorization to kill Shakur. Prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal said federal authorities “intervened and provided resources to at least (one witness) so he could change his residence.”
There is no reference in the court record to Davis ordering anyone to harm anyone, nor to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed.
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One of Davis’ defense attorneys, Robert Arroyo, told The Associated Press that he saw no evidence that any witnesses had been named or threatened.
Davis is originally from Compton, California. He maintains that in 2008 he was granted immunity from prosecution by FBI and Los Angeles police agents investigating both the murders of Shakur in Las Vegas and those of rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, in March 1997 in Los Angeles. Angels. .
Davis’ lawyers argue that his descriptions of Shakur’s murder were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
