LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The man accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur has no immunity from prosecution in Nevada, a Las Vegas judge ruled Tuesday.
As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported earlier this month, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 61, filed paperwork asking a judge to dismiss his case over the 27-year delay in prosecution and past immunity agreements.
In court Tuesday, Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny declined to dismiss Davis’ case over arguments from his attorney that he received immunity protection in a prior interview. She also noted there was no advantage for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office to have waited 27 years to prosecute their case.
Davis has publicly said he was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car, which pulled up side-by-side with Shakur’s, before the September 1996 shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. Marion “Suge” Knight, the then-head of Death Row Records, was driving the car with Shakur sitting in the passenger seat. Knight was injured in the shooting. Shakur died from his injuries several days later.
Kierny noted Davis’ book led prosecutors to investigate and bring the case to a grand jury. She noted the lack of physical evidence and witnesses created an “uphill battle” for them.
In Davis’ filing, his attorney, Carl Arnold, said his client entered into several proffer agreements with federal and local officials regarding information about Shakur’s murder. Davis again entered a similar agreement during a Los Angeles Police Department interview, documents said.
Prosecutors had said any proffer agreement in Nevada would have had to go through a judge.
Davis’ trial was scheduled to begin in March. Kierny scheduled a Feb. 11 hearing to determine if that date would stick.
