Man accused of Tupac killing bids to suppress evidence
Lawyers for the man accused of murdering rap star Tupac Shakur in 1996 have pressed for evidence obtained in what they claim was an “illegal night search” to be suppressed.
Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys Robert Draskovich and William Brown filed a petition this week on behalf of their client, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of shooting the rapper in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.
Davis’ lawyers argue that a judge authorized the night execution of a search warrant, which should only be done in exceptional circumstances, based on a “misleading portrait” of Davis as a dangerous drug dealer.
His lawyers say Davis, who is actually a former gang leader from Southern California, quit dealing narcotics in 2008 and started doing inspection work at oil refineries.
He was a 60-year-old retired cancer survivor with adult children and grandchildren and had been living with his wife in Henderson, a city outside Las Vegas, for nine years at the time of the arrest warrant.
“None of this was mentioned to the court,” his lawyers wrote in the motion. “As a result, the court authorized the nighttime search based on a portrait of Davis that bore little resemblance to reality; in other words, a clearly erroneous factual determination.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which conducted the search and collected Davis’ electronic devices, “alleged marijuana” and boxes of photographs, declined to comment.
During the search, police said executing the warrant under darkness would allow officers to surround and secure the residence, and if Davis barricaded himself, the darkness would allow officers to evacuate surrounding homes with minimal exposure to residents.
Davis was arrested in September 2023. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and requested to be released shortly after his arrest.
His lawyers argue that Davis’ arrest stemmed from false statements he made to the press in which he claimed to have been in the white Cadillac in which Shakur was shot.
“Think of it this way: Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination — endlessly dissected, mythologized, monetized — so it’s not hard to understand why someone in Davis’ position would falsely place himself at the center of it all for the sake of personal gain,” his attorneys wrote.
Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. He died in hospital a few days later.
