MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING TUPAC GETS US$750K BAIL
LAS VEGAS. — A former gang leader suspected of killing rapper Tupac Shakur can be released on house arrest before his June trial, a judge has said.
Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny yesterday set the bail for Duane “Keffe D” Davis at US$750,000.
Mr Davis, 60, was charged in September in the murder of Shakur, who was 25 when he was shot in a drive-by in Las Vegas in 1996.
He has pleaded not guilty.
During the hearing, which Mr Davis attended, his court-appointed attorneys argued he should be released because he is a grandfather and that no evidence suggests he would flee before trial, news outlet KLEW reported.
They also said their client is in declining health following a battle with cancer.
His lawyers asked for bail to be set at around US$100,000.
Prosecutors claimed Mr Davis posed a danger to the public as a former gang leader.
Judge Kierny said that, while Mr Davis has not tried to flee, his time in a gang played a role in the bail decision.
“There are lots of people who are still scared of him,” Judge Kierny said.
Mr Davis is accused of planning the 7 September 1996 shooting with his nephew, Orlando Anderson, following a fight with Shakur in a casino.
Officials have shared security footage in which several men are seen kicking and punching Anderson. They allege the altercation ultimately led to the retaliatory shooting of Shakur as he was waiting in his car at a red light.
The hip-hop legend died in hospital a few days later.
Police also said that Mr Davis got the gun from an unnamed associate, and mentioned Mr Davis’s “own admissions” to media outlets that he was in the vehicle where the shots were fired from.
The three men who were in the car with Mr Davis at the time of the shooting, which included his nephew, have all since died.
Shakur, whose stage name was stylised as 2pac,
was one of the most acclaimed names in hip-hop and sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Mr Davis’ arrest 27 years after the murder came after authorities searched his home and said they found materials connected to the shooting.
Though Mr Davis is charged with planning the shooting, authorities have not said who actually fired the gun.