LAS VEGAS — The man charged in the 1996 killing of rap legend Tupac Shakur is seeking to have key evidence excluded from his case, with his lawyers arguing that police conducted an unlawful nighttime search of his home, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who was arrested in September 2023 and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Shakur’s fatal drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys this week filed a motion asking a court to suppress evidence seized during a late-night search, claiming the warrant was granted on the basis of misleading information presented to a judge.
Las Vegas defence attorneys Robert Draskovich and William Brown argue that prosecutors portrayed Davis as a dangerous, active drug dealer in order to justify executing the search at night — a measure typically reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as when there is a risk evidence could be destroyed before morning.
According to the filing, that portrayal was inaccurate. Davis, a former gang figure from Southern California, had left the drug trade by 2008 and was later employed doing inspection work for oil refineries. At the time the warrant was executed, he was a 60-year-old retired cancer survivor, living with his wife in Henderson, Nevada, where he had resided for nine years, the lawyers said.
“The court wasn’t told any of this,” Davis’ attorneys wrote in the motion, cited by AP. “As a result, the court authorised a nighttime search based on a portrait of Davis that bore little resemblance to reality — a clearly erroneous factual determination.”
Police collected electronic devices, suspected marijuana and containers of photographs during the search. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on the defence claims, citing the ongoing litigation. At the time, officers said a nighttime operation would allow them to safely surround and secure the residence and minimise risk to neighbouring homes should Davis attempt to barricade himself.
Davis has sought release from custody since shortly after his arrest. His defence team also argues that the case against him relies heavily on Davis’ own public statements, which they say were exaggerated or false. Davis had previously claimed he was inside the white Cadillac from which Shakur was shot, but his lawyers maintain he never provided verifiable details to support that claim.
According to the defence, Davis benefited from repeatedly placing himself at the centre of the high-profile case, avoiding drug charges through a proffer agreement and earning money through documentaries and a 2019 book in which he recounted his alleged involvement.
“Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination — endlessly dissected, mythologised and monetised,” the attorneys wrote, arguing that this notoriety created incentives for Davis to falsely implicate himself.
Shakur was shot multiple times in September 1996 and died days later at the age of 25. The killing remained one of hip-hop’s most infamous unsolved cases for decades before Davis was charged, a development that reignited global attention on the long-running mystery.
