Duane “Keffe D” Davis appeared in a Nevada court on Thursday for his arraignment. The 60-year-old Las Vegas man stands charged with the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur after being arrested in late September.
Leading up to the trial, it was reported that Davis would be represented by two public attorneys after he failed to come to an agreement with his former private lawyer, Ross Goodman.
Davis was joined in court by public defenders Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano and pled “not guilty” to the crime.
Goodman also spoke in court, arguing that prosecutors lack both evidence and key witnesses from the killing, which occurred 27 years ago. Prosecutors allege that Davis provided a gun to someone in his car, who then shot Tupac in a car-to-car gunfight. The 25-year-old rapper was shot and died a week later in the hospital.
Davis had admitted to being in the car from which the shots were fired. Writing about the incident in his memoir, he says the shots came from his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and maintains his innocence in the situation.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo, who announced the news of the arrest, however, billed Davis as the “on-ground, on-site commander” who gave the command for Shakur to be shot.
In other music news, 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” is officially certified diamond.
