Defendant in Tupac killing asks judge to dismiss murder case

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is asking a Las Vegas judge to dismiss the charges accusing him of orchestrating the 1996 killing of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.

Davis’ attorney, Carl Arnold, filed the motion on Monday alleging that the state delayed prosecuting Davis and is relying on Davis’ own statements to pursue the charges, violating a proffer agreement that reportedly protected Davis from prosecution.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors have alleged that Davis, a member of the South Side Crips, authorized the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur and injured Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight, as part of an ongoing feud between the South Side Crips and the Bloods-associated Mob Piru gang. The shooting was also allegedly in retaliation for a fight at the MGM Grand involving Shakur, Knight and Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson.

The Mob Piru gang had ties to Death Row Records, while prosecutors have said that the South Side Crips were associated with Bad Boy Records, a label owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs that represented Christopher “Biggie” Wallace.

According to Monday’s motion, Davis was interviewed by an assistant U.S. attorney in 1998 as part of a “proffer agreement,” in which the federal government agreed not to prosecute Davis for information he revealed in the interview.

During that interview, Davis denied knowing who shot Shakur and claimed that “it was the Compton Police Department under direction of Mr. Suge Knight, owner of Death Row Records,” who carried out the shooting, Arnold wrote in the motion.

Davis told a different story in a 2008 interview, which his attorney has claimed is also subject to an agreement protecting Davis from prosecution. The 2008 interview was between Davis and members of a task force investigating the shooting that killed Wallace less than a year after Shakur was killed.

During the 2008 interview, Davis claimed that Combs solicited Davis to kill Knight and Shakur for $1 million, and that one of Combs’ associates provided Davis with a gun used in the shooting, according to the motion.

After the fight at the MGM Grand, Davis, Anderson and two other men got into a white Cadillac to search for Shakur, until they found him near Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. Davis claimed he passed the gun to the men in the back seat and his nephew fired at the vehicle with Shakur, the motion stated.

Davis claimed in 2008 that he never received the money he was promised from Combs, according to the motion.

Arnold wrote that his client relayed much of that information to the Metropolitan Police Department during a 2009 interview.

“In this statement by Mr. Davis, he basically repeated what he told the Task Force… Sean Combs wanted both Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight killed and that Mr. Combs was willing to pay for it,” according to the motion.

Arnold wrote that as far back as 2009, Metro had access to the information prosecutors are currently using to pursue the case against Davis.

“The Clark County District Attorney Office has offered no reason as to why it waited another 14 years to prosecute a case against Mr. Davis,” Arnold wrote in the motion.

He also argued that prosecutors have no “independent evidence” that Davis’ nephew or any other member of the South Side Crips shot Shakur, other than Davis’ own statements.

“The State of Nevada has violated Mr. Davis’ constitutional rights, failed to follow the law in charging Mr. Davis and has failed to honor previous agreements of immunity,” Arnold wrote in the motion.

Prosecutors have previously pointed to public statements Davis has made in more recent years during media interviews and in his 2019 book, “Compton Street Legend.” In the book, Davis claimed to have been in the car with Shakur’s shooter and described passing the gun to the men in the back seat of the vehicle, but he did not say who pulled the trigger.

Davis remains in the Clark County Detention Center on a $750,000 bail.

District Judge Carli Kierny is scheduled to hear arguments on the motion on Jan. 21.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.