LAS VEGAS– A judge on Tuesday denied another request to release an ailing former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop star Tupac Shakur in 1996. She said she suspects a cover-up related to the sources of the funds for his bond.
The decision by Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny came after an attorney for Duane “Keffe D” Davis said he would provide additional financial records to prove that Davis and the music record manager offering his $750,000 bail did not intend to make his profit from the sale of Davis’ life story and that the money was obtained legally.
“I feel like things are being covered up,” Kierny said, adding that she was left with more questions than answers after receiving two identical letters, apparently from the entertainment company that music record executive Cash “Wack 100” Jones says. him the money.
Kierny said one of the letters was signed with a name that has no connection to the company.
Davis has been trying to get out since shortly after his arrest in September 2023, making him the only person ever charged with a murder crime that has attracted intense interest and speculation for nearly three decades.
Prosecutors allege that the gunfire that killed Shakur in Las Vegas stemmed from competition between East Coast members of a Bloods gang sect and West Coast groups of a Crips cult, including Davis, for dominance in a genre which was known at the time as ‘gangsta rap’.
Kierny previously rejected Davis’ bid to have music executive Cash “Wack 100” Jones post $112,500 to obtain Davis’ $750,000 bail, saying she was not convinced Davis and Jones did not intend to make a profit . She also said she could not determine whether Jones was acting as an “intermediary” on behalf of another unnamed person.
Nevada has a law, known as a “slayer statute,” that prohibits convicted murderers from profiting from their crimes.
Jones, who has managed artists such as Johnathan “Blueface” Porter and Jayceon “The Game” Taylor, testified in June that he wanted to commit money to Davis because Davis was battling cancer and “had always been a monumental person in our community.” . especially the urban community.”
Davis has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Also on Tuesday, Kierny postponed the start of the trial against Davis from November 4 to March 17.
He and prosecutors say he is the only living person who was in a car from which shots were fired into another car nearly 28 years ago, killing Shakur and wounding rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.
