Why was Keefe D’s murder charge upheld in court? Suspect in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur to face prosecution

On Tuesday, January 21, the motion filed by Keefe D's attorney for the dismissal of charges pressed against him were rejected at the Clark County District Court.

Per AP News, Judge Carli Kierny stated that Keefe D - originally named Duane Keith Davis - hasn't provided any proof of the immunity deals that he claims to have reached with federal and local authorities years ago. In the absence of proof, Davis isn't projected against prosecution, which means that his murder charge will be upheld in court.

The ruling comes weeks after Keefe D's legal team filed the dismissal motion for the charges related to the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur. His attorney, Carl Arnold, highlighted a proffer agreement made between Keefe D and the joint federal LA task force in 2008, which promised the rapper immunity.

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Keefe D's lawyer claimed Tupac Shakur's murder trial was "all about making money"

The District Court ruling regarding Keefe D's trial comes nearly 1.5 years after he was arrested (in September 2023) for his suspected involvement in Shakur's murder.

Having rejected Carl Arnold's motion for the dismissal of the charges, the prosecutors claim that they have strong evidence against Davis, who is accused of orchestrating Shakur's shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. The shooting reportedly followed a brawl at a casino, which involved Tupac and Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson - who was Davis' nephew.

Per AP News, prosecutors are also citing Keefe's own account of the shooting in his 2019 book as a piece of evidence. However, the rapper's lawyers have claimed in their statement:

"There’s no evidence that he was involved [in Pac’s murder]. He did what Detective [Greg] Kading did: he put out a book, and he made money. Even the state’s main investigation that testified at the grand jury said this is all about making money."

The book referenced here was Keefe's 2019 book titled Compton Street Legend, wherein the 61-year-old had written about Tupac's murder. His attorney also argued that the statements made by Keefe regarding the murder in the book were just for "entertainment purposes," per HipHopDx.

Duane Keith Davis is the last living suspect in Tupac's murder. He was one of four people in the car that shot at Shakur in 1996. Anderson, who was next to Davis, denied involvement before he died in 1998.

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Keefe D's lawyer claimed that his constitutional rights have been violated

In the dismissal motion filed for Keefe D, Carl Arnold also claimed that his client's constitutional rights were violated through an "unjustified" delay in legal proceedings relating to Shakur's shooting, which occurred nearly three decades ago.

Per the motion, the lengthened delay had led to "dimming of memories, the death or disappearance of witnesses, and the loss or destruction of material physical evidence."

Arnold also argued that the facts in the case have been in possession of the Las Vegas police since 2009. He added that the delay in their action despite it all had "irreversibly" compromised his right to a fair trial.

Per HipHopDX, the motion also claims that the only evidence available in the case is Keefe D's own testimony. Everyone else associated with the 1996 killing has either died or been incarcerated since then, including Suge Knight - the co-founder of Death Row Records, and his rival Diddy, who had allegedly ordered Pac's murder, per Keefe's claim.

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Before Tupac Shakur was killed at 24, his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me, had been a chart-topping success, with five million copies of it being sold worldwide. He had also been nominated for Grammy six times and is still regarded among the most versatile rappers of all time.