Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis back in court in Tupac killing

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appeared in court for another brief hearing on Thursday in connection with the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, represented by prominent local defense attorney Ross Goodman.

Goodman, the son of Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and former mayor Oscar Goodman, told the judge that although he was representing Davis on Thursday, he has not officially been hired as his attorney. He asked for the case to be delayed another two weeks for an official confirmation of counsel.

“I’m going to give you two weeks, but in two weeks we’ve got to get this case moving,” said District Judge Tierra Jones.

Davis, a 60-year-old reputed member of the South Sides Crips gang, has been accused by prosecutors of orchestrating Shakur’s fatal shooting on Sept. 7, 1996, at the corner of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, as part of an ongoing feud between the Crips and another Compton gang associated with the Bloods.

He did not speak during the hearing on Thursday, and walked into the room in handcuffs and a Clark County Detention Center uniform, staring in the direction of reporters.

During his first court appearance earlier this month, Davis asked for his arraignment to be postponed because his longtime lawyer, Los Angeles-based attorney Edi Faal, could not attend the hearing.

Prosecutors announced Sept. 29 that Davis had been indicted on a charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.

Davis had long been tied to Shakur’s killing, and began making public statements in recent years about the events surrounding the shooting in interviews and his 2019 co-written book, “Compton Street Legend,” in which he claimed he was in the car with Shakur’s shooter.

Davis is accused of being the “on-ground, on-sight commander” responsible for formulating the plan to carry out the shooting to exact revenge on Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight for a fight at the MGM Grand earlier that night involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson.

Following Thursday’s hearing, Goodman said that Davis intends to plead not guilty and “wants to fight the case.”

Goodman said he believes there are defenses to explain why Davis made public statements about the case, “even though it may not be true.”

“You have to corroborate those statements,” he told reporters. “And if you don’t have a car, if you don’t have a gun, and you don’t have witnesses to corroborate what Mr. Davis said under those circumstances, I believe that there’s an obvious defense to that on why he made those statements.”

Shakur was fatally injured while riding in a car with Knight, as someone in the backseat of a white Cadillac opened fire on the two. Prosecutors have said that Davis is the only man left alive from the four people believed to have been inside the Cadillac.

Goodman said if he is officially retained as Davis’ lawyer, he intends to ask the judge to release him from custody on his own recognizance.

“He’s not a flight risk,” Goodman said. “He’s not a danger to the community. He’s lived in Henderson for 11 years, he’s not going anywhere.”

During grand jury proceedings, the Metropolitan Police Department detective in charge of the renewed investigation testified that he believed Shakur’s killing was related to the unsolved slaying of fellow rapper Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, according to court transcripts.

Wallace, who was represented by the East-coast label Bad Boy Records, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles six months after Shakur was fatally shot.

Detective Cliff Mogg testified that although he believes the shootings were related, he did not believe they were perpetrated by the same people.

Prosecutors questioned multiple witnesses during the hearings about the rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records, which was started by Sean “Diddy” Combs. Knight was known to hire members of the Bloods-associated Mob Piru and off-duty police officers to act as security for Death Row, while Bad Boy Records was connected to Crips members, according to court records.

Davis remains in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

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