LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Duane “Keffe D” Davis made his first appearance in a Las Vegas courtroom Wednesday after being charged with murder in the shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Davis’ court appearance lasted less than two minutes because Davis did not have an attorney present. Watch the entire appearance in the video above.
“He needs two weeks, he said, to be here,” Davis told Judge Terra 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 Nexstar’s KLAS he is helping Davis retain counsel.
Davis, 60, a self-described gang member, was arrested at his Henderson, Nevada, home on Friday, Sept. 29 after a grand jury indicted him on a charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement.
While Davis has been a suspect in the case for years, Las Vegas Metropolitan police said they lacked the evidence needed to make an arrest and a solid prosecutable case. That changed in 2018 when Davis, who was promoting his book, began doing interviews about the Sept. 7, 1996 night of Shakur’s shooting. Shakur was struck by multiple bullets and died six days later.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Lt. Jason Johansson 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 needed evidence.
Shakur was gunned down in a car on Flamingo Boulevard, 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, allegedly handed a gun to a backseat passenger who started firing. Davis is the only remaining person alive out of the four people who were allegedly in the shooter’s vehicle.
Police said the shooting was a retaliatory attack on Shakur, and Davis was “the shot caller.” The shooting followed a fight earlier in the evening when police said Shakur’s group attacked Orlando Anderson, a member of a rival gang, and Davis’ nephew, who was a backseat passenger in the vehicle with Davis.
Davis is currently being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail. The rescheduled arraignment is planned for Thursday, Oct. 19 at 9 a.m. local time.
