Topline:
The man arrested for his alleged role in Tupac Shakur’s death pleaded not guilty on Thursday, more than 27 years after the rapper was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip.
The charges: Duane Keith Davis, 60, has been charged with one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang by a grand jury in Clark County, Nevada.
Why now: Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said in court they’ve long suspected Davis was involved with the 1996 shooting, but his 2019 autobiography Compton Street Legend helped them gather the evidence they needed.
Go deeper: ...to learn more about Davis' arrest
The man arrested for his alleged role in Tupac Shakur’s death pleaded not guilty on Thursday, more than 27 years after the rapper was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip.
Duane Keith Davis, 60, has been charged with one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang by a grand jury in Clark County, Nevada. Prosecutors said they will not be seeking the death penalty.
Davis was taken into custody on Sept. 29 outside his Nevada home. In body-camera footage released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Davis can be heard telling the arresting officer he was being taken in for the “biggest case in Las Vegas history.”
Davis was scheduled to be arraigned twice before, on Oct. 4 and Oct. 19, but his court appearances ended up only lasting a few minutes. Davis told District Court Judge Tierra Jones his attorney needed more time.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said in court they’ve long suspected Davis was involved with the 1996 shooting, but his 2019 autobiography Compton Street Legend helped them gather the evidence they needed.
Davis is not accused of shooting Shakur, but DiGiacomo said he was the ringleader behind the plan. In Nevada, you can be charged with a crime if you helped someone commit that crime, including murder.
“He acknowledges that he is in fact, the person that ordered the death of Mr. Shakur and the attempted murder of Mr. Knight,” DiGiacomo said in court on Sept. 29.
DiGiacomo said Davis had been trying to get revenge on Shakur for a physical fight between the hip-hop icon and Davis’ nephew, a member of the Southside Crips.
Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur, Tupac’s sister and President of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, said Davis’ arrest was a pivotal moment.
“The silence of the past 27 years surrounding this case has spoken loudly in our community,” Shakur said in a statement. “It’s important to me that the world, the country, the justice system, and our people acknowledge the gravity of the passing of this man, my brother, my mother’s son, my father’s son. His life and death matters, and should not go unsolved or unrecognized. So yes, today is a victory, but I will reserve judgment until all the facts and legal proceedings are complete. There have been multiple hands involved and there remains so much surrounding the life and death of my brother Tupac, and our Shakur family overall. We are seeking real justice, on all fronts.”
