BAIL, HOUSE ARREST OK’D FOR SHAKUR KILLING SUSPECT
A Nevada judge set bail Tuesday at $750,000 for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in 1996, saying he can serve house arrest with electronic monitoring ahead of trial on a murder charge.
Court-appointed attorneys for Duane “Keffe D” Davis told The Associated Press after the judge's decision that they believe Davis can post that amount. They had asked for bail of not more than $100,000 and noted for the judge that the demands of preparing a defense based on two decades of evidence may require a postponement of the current June trial date.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters that he expects Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny will hold a “source hearing” to determine whether money posted for bail is legally obtained. The judge did not set a new trial date but called for a status check Feb. 20.
Prosecutors Binu Palal and Marc DiGiacomo argued Tuesday that Davis has never left gang life, that his 15 years of admissions about his role in Shakur's killing show he is guilty of murder, and that a jailhouse phone call in October suggested he poses a threat to witnesses.
“There is one constant,” Palal told the judge. “Mr. Davis has consistently admitted to being architect of the murder.”
DiGiacomo called Davis “a very, very high danger to the community.”
The judge, in her ruling, acknowledged that Davis “made a living talking about his past life as a leader of the South Side Crips,” a street gang in his hometown of Compton, “and also the killing of Mr. Shakur in graphic detail.”
Robert Arroyo and cocounsel Charles Cano argued that police and prosecutors could have arrested Davis 15 years ago but didn't.
Davis was arrested Sept. 29 outside his home in suburban Henderson, which Las Vegas police had searched in mid-July. He pleaded not guilty in November to firstdegree murder and has been jailed without bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees' phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.