After being arrested in September for the murder of Tupac Shakur, Duane “Keefe D” Davis finally appeared in court for his arraignment yesterday, where he pled not guilty.
His official plea was entered by his public defender after reports of Davis parting ways with his original lawyer, Ross Goodman, due to payment issues. After claiming to not be able to afford legal representation, Davis was appointed two public defenders: Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano.
The Tupac murder investigation has haunted the Las Vegas police for nearly 3 decades as they continue to run into obstacles such as witnesses unwilling to testify. This includes key witness Suge Knight, who was seated next to Tupac in the car when he was shot and killed.
In a phone interview with TMZ after Keefe D was arrested, Suge Knight spoke briefly about the incident. Upon hearing the news that the 60-year-old gang affiliate was charged with “murder with the use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang,” Suge told the reporter “well, surprise, number one, because I don’t think Keefe D would ever get arrested, nor do I want to see him arrested.”
Suge Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Knight continued to tell the interviewer: “Let’s get one thing straight, first and foremost: me and Keefe D played on the same Pop Warner football team. And whatever circumstances — if he had an involvement with anything, if he didn’t have an involvement with anything, I wouldn’t wish somebody going to prison on my worst enemy . . . There were only two people in the car; ‘Pac’s not gonna tell the story, I ain’t gonna tell the story. But I can tell you this: I never had nothing bad to say about Orlando because . . . he wasn’t the shooter . . . it wasn’t Anderson, so that’s all I got to say about that part.”
Police claim that Davis was the ringleader calling the shots in the “retribution” mission against Tupac that fateful night in 1996. Prosecutors also claim that although Davis may not have fired the actual shot, he had provided the gun to the person who did.
Before Davis’s change of attorneys, Goodman spoke about the trial saying that the state has a weak case against Davis and that he “should be released on his own recognizance” as he is “not a flight risk” or a “danger to the community.”