LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Duane “Keffe D” Davis who is charged with murder in the shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur made his first appearance in a Las Vegas courtroom Wednesday morning following his arrest in the decades-old murder case.
Davis’ court appearance was less than two minutes because Davis did not have an attorney present.
“He needs two weeks he said to be here,” Davis told Judge Tierra Jones.
“Today was the scheduled arraignment but he can’t be arraigned until he has a lawyer. Mr. Davis announced that he has retained a lawyer,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said following the court appearance. “Mr. Faal couldn’t be here today so Mr. Davis asked for a two-week continuance.”
Wolfson said Davis has hired Edi Faal, a California lawyer, who told the 8 News Now Investigators he was helping Davis retain counsel.
Davis, 60, a self-described gang member was arrested near his Henderson home on Friday, Sept. 29, after a grand jury indicted him for murder with the use of a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement.
While Davis was a suspect in the murder case for years, Las Vegas Metropolitan police said they lacked the evidence needed to make an arrest and a solid prosecutable case. However, that changed in 2018 when Davis, who was promoting his book, began doing interviews about the night of Shakur’s shooting on Sept. 7, 1996. Skakur died six days later.
LVMPD Lt. Jason Johannson said Davis’ own admissions about his involvement in the crime during those interviews as well as witness statements, and a search of Davis’ home, provided the evidence needed.
Shakur was gunned down in a car on Flamingo Road, just east of the Las Vegas Strip by a person in a vehicle that pulled up alongside the vehicle with Shakur and record executive Suge Knight.
Davis, a front-seat passenger in the suspect vehicle, said he handed a gun to a backseat passenger who started firing. Davis is the only remaining person alive out of the four people who were in the shooter’s vehicle.
Police said the shooting was a retaliatory attack on Shakur and Davis was “the shot caller” following a fight earlier in the evening when Shakur’s group reportedly attacked Orlando Anderson, a member of a rival gang, and Davis’ nephew, who was a backseat passenger in the vehicle with Davis.
Davis was being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail. The arraignment will be continued on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 9 a.m.
