LAS VEGAS — A former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996 asked a judge on Tuesday to be released from house arrest ahead of his June trial. We plan to request this.
Public defenders for Duane “Kev D” Davis said their 60-year-old client is in poor health, does not pose a danger to the community and has no intention of fleeing to avoid trial.
They are asking the judge to set bail at less than $100,000.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and has remained jailed without bail since his arrest on September 29 outside his suburban Henderson home where Las Vegas police had served a search warrant in mid-July.
He is the only person charged in the shooting, which also injured rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.
Prosecutors said in a court filing last week that prison phone recordings and a list of names provided to Davis' family showed there were witnesses who would be at risk of harm if Davis were released. He argued that it has been shown that
They also called attention to Davis' own statements since 2008 (in a police interview, in a revealing 2019 memoir, and in media statements) that show Davis was involved in a drive-by shooting in September 1996. This provides strong evidence that it was planned.
Knight, now 58, is serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated shooting that killed a Compton businessman in 2015.
Meanwhile, Davis is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainee calls are routinely recorded.
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in a Nevada prison.
Prosecutors said in a recording of the October call, Davis' son said Davis gave him the “green light” to kill Shakur.
Prosecutors Mark DiGiacomo and Binu Paral said federal authorities “intervened and provided resources to allow at least (one witness) to change his residence.”
The court filing makes no mention of Davis instructing anyone to harm anyone or that anyone involved in the case was physically harmed.
Robert Arroyo, one of Davis' attorneys, told The Associated Press he had seen no evidence that witnesses were named or threatened.
Davis is from Compton, California. He was part of the FBI investigation that investigated both the 2008 murders of Shakur in Las Vegas and the March 1997 murders of rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, in Los Angeles. He claims he was granted immunity from prosecution by authorities and the Los Angeles Police Department. .
Davis' lawyers have argued that Davis' depiction of Shakur's murder was “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
