LAS VEGAS (AP) – A Nevada judge on Tuesday placed a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of orchestrating the 1996 murder of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur on electronic monitoring ahead of his trial. He said he could be placed on house arrest and set bail at $750,000. for murder.
Duane “Kev D” Davis' public defender told The Associated Press after the judge's ruling that he believed Davis would be able to account for that amount.they were asking for bail Under $100,000 He told the judge that the requirement to prepare a defense based on 20 years' worth of evidence could necessitate a postponement of the current June trial date.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters that he expected Clark County District Judge Carly Keaney to hold a “source hearing” to determine whether bail was legally obtained. He said that The judge did not set a new trial date, but asked for a review of the situation on February 20th.
Prosecutors Binu Paral and Mark DiGiacomo said Tuesday that Davis never left gang life and that the fact that he had confessed for 15 years to his involvement in Shakur's murder showed he was guilty of murder. He claimed that a phone call to the jail in October suggested Davis posed a threat to witnesses. .
“One thing remains the same,” Parral told the judge. “Mr. Davis has consistently admitted to being the mastermind of the murders.”
DiGiacomo called Davis “a very, very dangerous person to the community.”
In his ruling, the judge noted that Davis “made a living talking about his past life as the leader of the Southside Crips, a street gang in his hometown of Compton, California, and his 1996 murder of Mr. Shakur.” Admitted. Graphic details. ”
Robert Arroyo and co-counsel Charles Cano argued that police and prosecutors could have arrested Davis 15 years ago but did not, and that prosecutors were wrong in their interpretation. List of prison phones and names Provided to Davis' family. Defense attorneys said Davis and his family are at risk.
Arroyo and Cano said their client, a 60-year-old man, has been in declining health after a battle with cancer, but is now in remission and has no intention of fleeing to avoid trial.
Duane “Kef D” Davis (left), Special Deputy Public Defender Robert Arroyo (right) and Charles Cano appear for arraignment at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on November 2, 2023. Mr. (rear). (Pool photo, file via Ethan Miller/AP)
They also discounted the evidence against Davis as unreliable because it was the product of stories told by witnesses with gang backgrounds, including the gun and car involved in the September 1996 drive-by shooting that killed Shakur. He pointed out that the prosecution lacked evidence.
Arroyo on Tuesday focused on what he called “obvious questions” dating back to 2008 and 2009, when Davis spoke with police in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He wrote his revealing memoir in 2019 and began giving interviews on social media in which he described his own role as the gang's leader and “shotcaller” in Shakur's death.
“If his guilt is so bad, what has been going on for 15 years?” Arroyo asked in court Tuesday. “Why did he wait 15 years to be arrested?”
Davis is Arrested on September 29th Las Vegas police search outside home in suburban Henderson Search in mid-July.he pleaded not guilty He was charged with first-degree murder in November and was held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainee phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at his trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Arroyo claimed Tuesday that his client's accounts in the “YouTube world” emphasize violence to attract viewers and make money.
“Conflict sells,” Arroyo said. “They give interviews and puff their chests out. They're trying to get clicks.”
Prosecutors said Davis' own words were: strong evidence That he is responsible for the crime even if he did not pull the trigger. DiGiacomo said other media interviews and others who described Davis' role to police corroborate his account.
File/Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles on August 15, 1996. Former Southern California street gang leader Duane Keith “Kef D” Davis pleaded not guilty on Thursday, November 2, 2023. He orchestrated the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)
Davis was the only survivor of the vehicle that was shot at. He fatally shot Shakur and seriously injured rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. served by knights 28 years He was in a California prison in 2015 after an unrelated shooting in the Los Angeles area.
Davis' attorney noted that Knight was a witness to the Shakur shooting, but did not testify before the grand jury that indicted his client.
Davis claims he was granted immunity from prosecution by the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department task force investigating the 2008 murder of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace in Las Vegas. Notorious BIG Or Biggie Smalls in Los Angeles six months later.
Mr. DiGiacomo and Mr. Parral said immunity agreements have limitations. Last week, they submitted to the court an audio recording of a December 2008 special committee interview in which Davis said that nothing said in the room could be used against him, but that other He said he was told that if he told anyone, it could be against him. You are in legal jeopardy.
Davis' attorney responded by noting that a book was published 12 years ago written by former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading, who was present at those interviews.
“Duane is not concerned because his alleged involvement in Shakur's death…has been public knowledge since 2011,” the lawyers said.
