Prosecutors Argue Against House Arrest for Alleged Tupac Murder Orchestrator

For over ten years, a former gang leader from the Los Angeles area has consistently admitted to orchestrating the murder of the renowned hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur in 1996.

Prosecutors in Las Vegas argued on Thursday that these admissions, made by Duane "Keffe D" Davis, serve as compelling evidence to oppose his release to house arrest before his trial scheduled for June.

In a court filing, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo highlighted Davis's repeated confessions to being responsible for Tupac Shakur's murder, emphasizing that he was the "shot-caller" in the situation.

DiGiacomo, who submitted a bid to keep Davis in jail, refrained from commenting further.

The submission included over 160 pages of written transcripts and a DVD containing additional evidence.

Davis's court-appointed attorneys, Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano, argued in a bail request filed on December 19 that their 60-year-old client, diagnosed with colon cancer in remission, is not receiving adequate medical attention in jail.

They contended that Davis, given his age and medical history, poses no threat to the community and is not a flight risk.

The prosecutors, DiGiacomo and Binu Palal, insist that even if Davis did not physically commit the murder, he bears responsibility for it. Davis claims he obtained immunity in a 2008 agreement with the FBI and Los Angeles police, who were investigating both Shakur's killing in Las Vegas and the subsequent murder of rival rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls.

DiGiacomo and Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson argue that Davis incriminated himself in various instances, including accounts to a joint federal and LAPD task force, interviews with Las Vegas police in 2009, a BET documentary in 2017, a tell-all book in 2019, and more recent interviews.

The prosecutors noted that the Las Vegas grand jury did not hear about Davis's 2009 interview with a Las Vegas police detective. DiGiacomo emphasized Davis's lack of caution and remorse, quoting him as saying, "I told on myself."

Davis, a Compton native, was arrested on September 29 outside his suburban Henderson home. Despite his no-bail order, his attorneys argue that he did not leave town between the home raid in July and his indictment in September. They also contend that Davis's memoir and interviews, where he described providing the gun used in the shooting of Shakur, should not be used against him. Davis is the sole surviving occupant of the vehicle from which the shots were fired.