Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who’s accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, speaks in courtroom on the Regional Justice Heart in Las Vegas, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Okay.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Overview-Journal by way of AP, Pool)
LAS VEGAS — An ailing former Los Angeles-area gang chief has been denied launch from a Las Vegas jail forward of his trial within the 1996 killing of music legend Tupac Shakur, regardless of a bid by a hip-hop music determine to underwrite his $750,000 bond.
A Nevada decide rejected home arrest with digital monitoring for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 61, saying she wasn’t happy with assurances that Davis and his would-be benefactor – Money “Wack 100” Jones – weren’t planning to reap earnings from the sale of Davis’ life story.
A Nevada regulation prohibits convicted killers from cashing in on their crime.
Clark County District Court docket Decide Carli Kierny stated in her ruling issued Wednesday, June 26, {that a} overview of Jones’ monetary data additionally did little to handle her issues that Jones could be a “‘entrance’ or ‘intermediary’ for the true bond poster.”
Davis has sought to be launched since shortly after his arrest final September made him the one particular person ever charged with against the law within the killing, which has drawn intense curiosity and hypothesis for 27 years.
Prosecutors allege the gunfire in Las Vegas that killed Shakur stemmed from competitors between East Coast members of a Bloods gang sect and West Coast teams of a Crips sect, together with Davis, for dominance in a musical style identified on the time as “gangsta rap.”
Davis has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 4. If convicted, he may spend the remainder of his life in jail.
After a 45-minute listening to Tuesday, Kierny stated she was left with extra questions than solutions after Davis’ authorized staff tried to reveal the supply of the funds.
Prosecutors have argued that Davis intends to profit from retelling his story in regards to the killing of Shakur and performed a recording of a jailhouse telephone name by which Jones describes to Davis a plan to supply “30 to 40 episodes” of a present based mostly on his life story.
“It’s an unlawful profit, cashing in on this crime,” prosecutor Binu Palal instructed the decide. Palal didn’t reply to an e mail in search of remark Wednesday on the decide’s resolution.
Jones, a music report government who has managed hip-hop artists together with Johnathan “Blueface” Porter and Jayceon “The Recreation” Taylor, supplied sworn testimony Tuesday by video from an unspecified place in California.
He stated he paid 15% of the bail quantity, or $112,500, as “a present” from his enterprise accounts to safe Davis’ launch.
Davis’ lawyer, Carl Arnold, didn’t reply to emails or telephone calls left at his workplace Wednesday in search of remark. A spokesperson for Arnold didn’t instantly have remark when reached by e mail.
The decide stated in Wednesday’s two-page order she wasn’t satisfied the bail cash was not being paid “out of earnings from Mr. Davis discussing the killing of the sufferer on this case.”
Whereas Jones testified he was bonding out Davis as a result of Davis was combating most cancers and “had been a pillar of the neighborhood,” earlier interviews “recommended one other motive,” Kierney wrote.
Your subscription couldn’t be saved. Please attempt once more.
Your subscription has been profitable.
She stated Jones indicated there have been “stipulations” on the bond and “that Mr. Davis could be signing a contract relating to the rights to his life story, ostensibly together with the capturing of Mr. Shakur.” She stated that was supported by a recorded telephone name on the jail when Jones “insisted {that a} contract be signed earlier than the bond premium was paid.” — With Rio Yamat and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas and Jonathan Landrum in Los Angeles
