Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis faces judge in Tupac killing

Duane “Keefe D” Davis made his first court appearance Wednesday morning in the killing of Tupac Shakur more than 27 years ago.

Prosecutors announced last week that the 60-year-old reputed member of the South Side Crips gang was indicted on a charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.

Davis, also identified as “Keffe D” in court papers, walked into the courtroom in handcuffs, wearing a dark blue Clark County Detention Center uniform. He told the judge that he is being represented by Los Angeles-based lawyer Edi Faal, who could not be there for the hearing.

Faal said in an emailed messaged Wednesday that he is “tasked with helping him hire an attorney in this case.” He declined to comment further on the case.

District Judge Tierra Jones ordered Davis back in court on Oct. 19

Although Davis is not accused of shooting the hip-hop icon, prosecutors have alleged that he was the “on-ground, on-sight commander” responsible for formulating a plan to carry out the shooting.

Under Nevada law, someone can be charged with murder if prosecutors allege they aided and abetting in the crime.

Mario Scott, who said he is Shakur’s cousin, attended the hearing on Wednesday with his wife, Katina Scott. He said the couple is Shakur’s only family who live in Las Vegas, and that he had “a lot of emotion” watching Davis face a judge 27 years after Shakur was killed.

“We thought it was over and done,” said Mario Scott, who was 9 years old when Shakur died.

Katina Scott said she felt that it took “a substantially long time” for authorities to bring charges against someone in connection with the fatal shooting.

“But at the end of the day, we’re very glad that justice is prevailing and that it is happening right here in Vegas, where the murder occurred,” she said.

Davis is accused of orchestrating the plan to shoot Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight on Sept. 7, 1996, in retaliation for a fight at the MGM Grand earlier that night involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson.

Prosecutors have also alleged that the shooting was part of an ongoing feud between the South Side Crips and the Bloods-associated Mob Piru gang.

Shakur was riding in a car with Knight at Flamingo Road and Koval Lane when a white Cadillac pulled up next to them. Shots rang out from the Cadillac’s backseat, fatally wounding Shakur, who died six days later.

During grand jury proceedings this summer, prosecutors questioned multiple witnesses about Death Row Records’ rivalry with Bad Boy Records, a label founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs that also represented Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said Friday that by mid-1996, there “wasn’t much distinction between Mob Piru and Death Row Records,” and witnesses have testified that the South Side Crips was known to act as security for Bad Boy Records.

When asked if other law enforcement agencies have been coordinating with Las Vegas authorities on Wallace’s unsolved killing, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters he would not comment “on anything involving that other matter.”

Wallace was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles six months after Shakur was killed.

Wolfson said he believes there is enough evidence that Davis will be convicted of murder, and that prosecutors will continue to ask for him to be held in jail without bail.

Davis was arrested Friday outside a home in Henderson, authorities have said. Wolfson said that Davis was speaking with officers on the day of his arrest, but he did not say if Davis has continued to talk with investigators.

Wolfson said it has taken nearly three decades for police to make an arrest because prosecutors needed “sufficient legal evidence” to bring forth charges.

“This is an important case, we wanted to make sure we did it right,” he said.

In July, Las Vegas police carried out a search warrant at a home in Henderson tied to Davis’ wife. Investigators seized computers, iPads, bullet cartridges, photographs, a Vibe magazine article on Shakur and a copy of Davis’ co-written book, “Compton Street Legend,” according to a copy of the search warrant.

In the book and in interviews Davis has given in recent years, he claimed to be in the car with the shooter who struck Shakur. The grand jury had access to four video clips of interviews with Davis, in which he talked about his role in the South Side Crips and the events around the shooting.

He is the only man left alive from the four people authorities believe were inside the Cadillac the night Shakur was killed.

Davis remained in jail on Wednesday without bail.

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