Tupac Shakur’s alleged killer, Duane Keith ‘Keffe D’ Davis has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating a drive-by shooting that killed the rapper in 1996 in Las Vegas.
The former Southern California street gang leader, who was in the vehicle from which shots were fired and the only person ever charged appeared before Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones on Thursday, November 2.
Davis lost his bid to hire defense attorney, Ross Goodman. Two weeks ago, Goodman had said prosecutors lack witnesses and key evidence, including a gun or vehicle, for the killing committed 27 years ago.
Before entering his plea Thursday, Davis stood in dark-blue jail garb and answered a short series of questions, telling the judge that he attended ‘a year in college,’ was not under the influence of any drugs, medication or alcohol, and that he understood he has been charged with murder.
Davis, 60, was arrested Sept. 29 outside a home in suburban Henderson where Las Vegas police served a search warrant July 17, drawing renewed attention to one of hip-hop music most enduring mysteries.
Davis remains jailed without bail, did not testify before the grand jury that indicted him and declined from jail to speak with The Associated Press.
The indictment alleges Davis obtained and provided a gun to someone in the back seat of a Cadillac before the car-to-car gunfire that mortally wounded Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight at an intersection just off the Las Vegas Strip.
