Defendant in Tupac Shakur killing loses defence lawyer

LAS VEGAS (AP):

The former Southern California street gang leader charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas has lost his bid to be represented at his arraignment by the lawyer who spoke publicly about his defence two weeks ago.

Attorney Ross Goodman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Duane Keith ‘Keffe D’ Davis could not meet terms of an agreement that a judge on October 19 gave them two more weeks to reach. Goodman did not specify a reason for the impasse.

Davis is due for arraignment Thursday, and Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones could order a financial accounting of Davis’ assets to determine if he can afford a lawyer or if she should declare him indigent and name an attorney to defend him at public expense.

Scott Coffee, a deputy Clark County public defender, said attorneys there were reviewing Davis’ case to determine whether they can represent Davis or if they have a conflict such as having in the past represented other people involved in the case.

Davis, 60, is originally from Compton, California. He was arrested September 29, the same day an indictment was filed accusing him of orchestrating the car-to-car shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight. Davis is expected to plead not guilty to a murder charge that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Shakur died at age 25. Knight was wounded but survived. Now 58, he is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the death of a Compton businessman in January 2015.

Goodman said October 19 he saw “obvious defences” in the murder case, including that police and prosecutors do not have the gun or car used in the shooting, and “there’s no witnesses from 27 years ago”.

Grand jurors were told that the shooting followed a brawl in a Las Vegas Strip casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson. He denied involvement in Shakur’s death and died in a May 1998 shooting at age 23. The other two men in the car with Davis and Anderson also are now dead.

Davis, in recent years, has publicly described his role in Shakur’s death, including in interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that described his life as a leader of a Crips gang sect in Compton.